Unhallowed Shadows

by Stefanos Kottas

  He heard a noise behind him and his hands flew to the handles of his swords. Simultaneously, he turned around and saw a man, clad from head to toes in black armor, with a hood partially covering his deformed face.

  “Greetings, Archytas. Have you come to rescue me?” asked Cheops, irony dripping from his voice.

  The man drew the hood back, completely revealing his deformed characteristics. His blackest eyes scanned the room around him, as if he had not beheld it in a long time. The room had no walls around, only chiseled pillars supporting the ceiling extending above them. Like the obelisks he had carved all those centuries ago, under the silver lake, Archytas had added protective runes to these pillars as well. At least these ones appeared to be effective still, all of them glowed, casting a light blue color, barely discernible against the scorching sun outside and its rays invading this place. This was one of the few places on the entire planet, if not the only one, where vampires were able to stand in the sunlight without getting destroyed. The magic of the Temple of Blood was protecting them. The view around the Temple was hazy; all over the horizon, only the hot desert dunes could be seen, even though they were standing at the top of the Temple, which was rising tens of meters over the ground.

  “I had told you that the Temple would not save you. I had also told you that when this day would come, your only chance was to be by Erica’s side. You did not heed my warnings and decided to come here. This, too, I had foreseen”, replied Archytas, his melodious voice barely heard over the sizzling of the coals in the brazier.

  Cheops, irritated, cursed him in some ancient, forgotten language.

  “You and your damned visions! Had your visions been accurate, we wouldn’t have ended up here, you fool. Or did you forget you’re the one who built all this?” he said, gesturing at the Temple around them. “Where is our savior now? Where is this precious child of yours who would save the world? Last time we telepathically tracked her, through the bond connecting all the Ancients, Erica still hadn’t managed to tame the memories of Naram-Sin, let alone his powers!”

  Cheops’ retort struck Archytas like the sharpest of blades. His calm façade was shattered.

  “You know fully well that this curse has affected me more than the rest of you!” he screamed at him. “I do not know why Naram-Sin’s plan failed to work, I do not know why Erica has been having so much trouble, I do not know why I was unable to foresee this curse, I do not know, I do not know, I DO NOT KNOW!” he roared.

  Unconsciously, Cheops took a step backwards, almost touching the brazier, warily looking at the enraged man. Archytas resembled a crazed beast, ready to attack him. The runes on the pillars around them had begun glowing even brighter, as if responding to the unseen summons of their creator. Lost as what else he could do, Cheops raised his arms, as if in a plea for calmness. His tactic worked; the man standing opposite him seemed to quickly regain control over his anger.

  Archytas raised his hood, covering his head once more and approached the brazier, staring at the flames before speaking, this time entirely calmly:

  “The Temple has sensed what approaches and has summoned the Dead to converge here, in order to defend it. I do not know who will get here first, the guardians or the Creature. If the guardians make it, you may stand a chance… Otherwise…”

  Cheops also turned to the brazier, yet again.

  “Can’t you stay and help?” he asked, hoping for an affirmative answer.

  His hopes were quickly shattered.

  “No. Apologies, my friend, but I cannot risk staying here. If it catches me, all will be lost”, Archytas told him in a sad voice.

  Cheops nodded, appearing to understand.

  “And the others?” he asked him, nursing no hope this time.

  “They are far away, they won’t make it, but even if they could, I seriously doubt they would choose to come. They are equally frightened and opt to remain blinded to the truth. They still think that they can hide. And yet, how can one hide from their own shadow?” wondered Archytas, in a purely rhetorical question, for he waited for no answer and continued: “After all, most of them are already dead, you have sensed this. Of the four still remaining, including you, Liu Xiu is the safest, and that is only due to the presence of powerful spirits in the East which have been trapped there, obscuring his location. I seriously doubt he would ever leave that place, even if the rest of the world was destroyed”.

  “Could you take me with you, at least?” Cheops pleaded in desperation.

  He did not want to die; he had sensed the demise of the other Ancients, even though he had been thousands of miles away when it had happened, as for example in the case of Demosthenes, who had perished in Athens; or Remus, who had tried to seek shelter in the frozen Antarctic. The Creature had managed to track them down, all of them, one by one; exactly as it would track him down, tonight. He did not need Archytas to see that in one of his visions, he could sense its dark presence approaching.

  Archytas disappointed him once again. He tried to explain that, in this moment, he wasn’t truly there, that he had merely used his magic to project an image of himself in the Temple so that they could speak, but Cheops had stopped listening. Terror had taken root in his heart as never before. He almost didn’t realize it when Archytas left, disappearing as suddenly as he had come; similarly, he did not hear the man saying, “Farewell, my friend”.

  “At least the flames are beautiful”, Cheops thought fleetingly, as the night was descending like a veil on the desert around him.

  Travis had been acting like a panicked child, fraying her nerves. Erica had announced that he would be participating in their operation against the Order, something that the young vampire had not been expecting at all; in fact, he had brought along his desktop, expecting he would stay behind to provide remote support. Erica was tempted to raise her arm and slap him, but Lucas intervened, forcibly pulling away Travis, leading him to one of the rooms so that they could get ready.

  Erica was set to go, glancing impatiently at her watch; it was almost midnight. She was wearing a bulletproof vest under her black blouse and on top of it she had fastened a holster that would hold a special handgun shooting tranquilizing darts. Lucas had disagreed with this particular aspect of her plan, but Erica would not yield; if at all possible, they would not take the lives of the knights they encountered. In any event, each was allowed to carry equipment of their choosing. She had opted for two silver daggers. She wasn’t expecting to face supernatural creatures, but following the surprise attack by that apparition a year ago, while she had been traveling alone with Travis, she wasn’t going to take any more risks. The giant had gone for his sword and cuirass, all hidden under a massive gray coat. Travis, who was unfamiliar with all this, simply took one of the tranquilizing guns. Besides, Erica had insisted he took his laptop with him, which was the actual reason she was bringing him along and not to assist them in the fighting. He and Erica were wearing black jackets to conceal their weapons, while Erica stored for the time being her sheathed daggers in the rucksack containing the laptop.

  The plan they had decided on with Marcos, was for him to infiltrate the new bunker of the Order and reveal its location to them. They would then storm it, fast and hard, with mercenaries escorting them, so that the knights would have no time to react. However, the information forwarded by Marcos had revealed that the new headquarters were located in an old, underground, nuclear bunker, which was fairly small; this eliminated out of hand the possibility of launching an attack with a significant number of operatives, as this would limit their ability to maneuver.

  The bunker was located in an area of Volt City which now mostly included stores, the majority of which would be closed for the night. Several decades ago, this was the area where the various research pertaining to the geothermal plants had been taking place and, later on, with the discovery of nuclear power, this was the location of the first experimental nuclear bunker. The rapid advancement of technology rendered these plants obsolete and most of these
were quickly repurposed for other uses or were demolished and buried in rubble. The only structure remaining fairly intact was the nuclear bunker which, although it had been abandoned, it was now being used as the Order’s base of operations, even though originally it was meant to become a museum, a project that was permanently buried in red tape.

  They exited the small villa where Travis had led them and entered a large black jeep with tinted windows. Erica scowled once again at her hacker friend, for not having found a more discreet vehicle and, without wasting any more time, they set off for the city. Soon they reached their destination, a tall building covered in canvas and scaffolding, the basement of which concealed the entrance to the bunker. They hastily parked across the street, leaving the hazard lights on. Lucas, sitting in the passenger seat, slightly lowered his window and glanced outside. Despite the darkness, due to the non-existent lighting in the area, he immediately pointed at something:

  “Over there”, he said, without raising his arm, merely nodding, “up, behind the scaffolding. There are cameras mounted there, although the building is incomplete. We might have trouble getting in undetected”.

  Erica, sitting behind the wheel, upon hearing about the cameras, stepped on the gas, pretending she was looking for some parking spot and drove around the block, stopping further down the street. She did not want to draw attention to them before they even had the chance to get there.

  “Travis? Can you do something about the cameras?” she asked the hacker, who was sitting in the back, with his laptop already open on his lap, tapping away at the keyboard with amazing speed.

  “No, they’re too careful. The cameras do not appear to be connected to a computer with internet access, and they are not wireless, which might have allowed me to block their signal”, he told her.

  “Can you shut down the power?” asked Lucas, earning a look full of irony and annoyance by Travis.

  “Oh, sure, I could hack into some unprotected computer at the nuclear plant which serves Volt City and then nicely ask them to commence an emergency shutdown of the reactor”, he quipped.

  The giant turned around and, before he had the chance to say anything, Travis waved his hands irritably, so that they would leave him alone to find what he was looking for. Discreetly, Erica touched Lucas’ arm, to make sure that the colossus would not say something insulting about Travis.

  “Turn here and at the end of the street take a right and enter the underground parking lot. We’re going to have to make some noise, so do something about the guard”, the hacker instructed her eventually, in a confident voice.

  Erica followed his instructions and brought the car to the entrance of the garage, where a barrier was blocking their entrance, right next to a booth where a young man sat, his face a mask of utter boredom. The young vampire lowered her window.

  “Got a card or…” the man yawned in bored, but she interrupted him, focusing her powers on his mind.

  “Weren’t you supposed to have the day off? You shouldn’t be here”, she said and her words sounded perfectly reasonable to the guard.

  “Is it my day off? Yes, you’re right… What am I doing here?” he mumbled, confused.

  “Shouldn’t you just take off? You don’t want to have your colleague thinking that you’re messing with the shifts schedule. It’d be better if you went home, before he finds you here”, suggested the young vampire, once again using her magic.

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I’ll do, you’re right”, agreed the guard, though he seemed to have stumbled on a little problem, some detail. “What about the keys? What should I do with those? Why do I have them on me?” he mumbled again, almost panicking.

  Erica upped the pressure and commanded:

  “Leave them and go”.

  His nose bled and, stumbling, without saying another word, the man left his post, leaving the booth open. The young vampire moved with incredible speed, pressed the button that opened the barrier and returned to her car in the blink of an eye. She was met by utter silence; none dared make the slightest comment and she appeared impassive, although deep inside she feared that she had just fried, quite needlessly, the brain of the young guard.

  Following Travis’ directions, she drove the car to the second level and parked it close to the wall he indicated. Then, all three of them got out, with Travis moving behind the vehicle to open its trunk, revealing there some tools and several, in fact quite many, guns.

  “Were you preparing for war?” Erica asked in surprise, staring at the numerous weapons.

  Chuckling, pleased with himself, Travis picked up an automatic rifle, equipped with a grenade launcher under its barrel, along with a belt of ammunition. He pointed at the opposite wall and explained his plan:

  “A few feet behind this wall runs the old sewer network of the city, as I managed to find out from some old maps of the area. Now, if we manage to open a hole large enough to fit us, we can enter the sewers and we’ll be able to get close enough to the building that interest us and it holds to reason that eventually we’ll locate the hatch that leads to the silo. Of course, we’ll have to do some digging… Someone grab that toolbox from the trunk”.

  Lucas snatched the weapon from his hands.

  “Let’s switch roles”, he suggested to Travis, pointedly. “We don’t want to get killed just yet...” he added.

  Although clearly displeased, Travis said nothing and grabbed the box with the tools, letting the giant’s insult go unanswered. Lucas approached the wall Travis had indicated, stood at a safe distance and triggered the grenade launcher. A deafening blast was heard when the grenade met the concrete wall, shattering part of it and filling the space with flames and dust. Lucas had to reload and shoot the launcher three times, before managing to blast a hole large enough to allow them to enter. By the end of it, all three of them were covered in dust and the underground space was still reverberating from the explosions. Lucas tossed the weapon to Erica, who caught it in midair and shoved aside the last pieces of debris covering the sewer, murmuring at the same time that there was no way in hell someone would not have heard them, even though they were underground. The stench which assaulted their senses once the patch was clear was indescribable, but the three of them braved it and entered.

  Despite the complete lack of light inside the tunnels, their vampirism allowed them to see clearly. With an air of disgust, Travis was tracking the rats around them, scampering to escape the three vampires, as they were waling deeper into the network of sewers.

  Their torture soon ended. With the help of a map on his laptop, Travis was able to locate the exact spot he was looking for and gestured to his companions that they had arrived. He tried to calculate how far they should retreat in order to blast a second hole in the wall with the grenade launcher, but Lucas stopped him.

  “We can’t fire that thing down here. These tunnels are made of stone, we’ll bring the whole lot down on us”, explained the giant. “There might be a different way to blast through the wall”, he continued.

  The towering vampire went and stood right in front of the wall Travis had indicated and focused for a few moments; seconds later he slammed his fist on it with all his might. A couple of cracks were revealed once the dust cloud settled, but the wall did not give in. The giant looked at his arm; this feat had cost him three broken fingers, but only for a moment, as his unholy nature healed the bones almost instantly. He slammed the wall once more and this time pieces of the tunnel fell off, but still not enough. Before he had the chance to ram the stones again, Erica stopped him, extending her wrist to him and told him:

  “Drink”.

  The giant looked at her pointedly to make sure she actually meant it and then obeyed. He bit the veins in her lower arm and sipped a little blood, enough to boost his strength but no so much that he would sap hers. Her blood felt cold, frozen, as if he was drinking liquid ice, but he sensed a wave of power flowing in him, through his own veins. Growling, he turned to the wall, gathered all his strength and landed one of th
e most crushing blows in all the centuries of his existence. Huge chunks of stone collapsed, revealing dirt behind them. A savage smile flashed on the giant’s face.

  He kept removing pieces off the wall, with much greater ease now and, grabbing a small shovel, he quickly dug a small tunnel. Looking inside, they saw that they had opened a hole to the old service well leading straight to the nuclear bunker, which was supported by wooden beams all around, while steel cables belonging to the elevator hang at its center. It took them a while to widen the tunnel enough so as to be able to crawl through, mindful of keeping quiet but working quickly; they couldn’t risk someone using the elevator and noticing the hole they had been digging.

  “How’s your balance?” Lucas asked Travis, once the tunnel was finished.

  “We’ll find out soon enough”, the hacker answered hesitantly, holding off the irony this time round.

  Erica went first. The tunnel was not large enough for her to stand straight, but she could bend her knees enough to get a small boost before jumping. She leaped into the air, aiming for the elevator cables and managed to skillfully grab hold of the steel lines, as if she were a born acrobat. Wrapping her legs around the cables, she began her descent. Lucas went second, rattling the cable as he seized it, shaking the elevator car along with it, which was located several feet above them. For a moment they all froze, looking worriedly towards it, fearful that the elevator’s breaks would not hold and the whole contraption would collapse on them. After a couple of agonizing seconds, all three of them simultaneously sighed in relief. Travis was the last to attempt the jump. He almost roared in joy when he managed to grab hold of a cable, something which made Lucas smile and Erica scowl at him.