Infernum

The next morning, Hope woke up very disoriented and slightly dehydrated. Sounds of sizzling could faintly be heard from another room and odd smells filled the air; she tried to place the smell but it was too alien to her, she could tell it was some type of meat being cooked but she could not place the salty/ smokey smell. She emerged from the bedroom and saw Alex in the kitchen just past the living room.

“Good morning,” he said as he turned the strips of bacon over on his griddle.

“What happened last night?” Hope asked, and then, with a fast, aggressive movement toward Alex, she grabbed him by his shirt and pulled his face to hers.

“What did you do to me?” she growled.

Alex put his hands up in the air quickly showing his palms to Hope as his face turned a pale white color.

“Hold on a minute, I didn’t do anything to you, I swear. You were just passed out so I put you in bed,” he said quickly. “I thought you’d be more comfortable there, that’s all,” he added just as quick. Hope let go of his shirt and took a step back in an attempt to control her urge to torture the information out of him.

“You just had a little too much to drink last night and passed out; I can assure you that nothing else happened,” Alex explained.

“Why would you let me drink that … poison?” Hope asked.

“Haven’t you ever drunk before?” Alex asked with a look of disbelief.

“No… We don’t consume poison where I’m from,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

“And where are you from, Hope? I’m dying to know what place doesn’t drink alcohol, use doorknobs, or have carpet in their homes,” Alex said with conviction as he stared at Hope waiting for her to answer.

“I’m from … far away, and what about the carpet?” Hope replied, dodging the question.

“You were swimming in it, raving about how good it felt against your body.” Alex chuckled as he turned back to his griddle to remove the bacon. Hope dropped her head down and covered her forehead as if to think very hard.

“I don’t remember that,” she said solemnly.

“I’ll tell you what, Hope. Breakfast won’t be ready for a while, so why don’t you go take a shower? It helps, trust me. I will come and get you when it’s time to eat; then we can sit and talk over breakfast.” Hope agreed then stood there for a moment. Alex paused for a second realizing she did not know where anything was in his house.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry, Hope, the towels are in the linen closet over there and the shower is in the master bathroom where you just were,” Alex said as he pointed to the linen closet door next to the master bedroom. “Pull the knob out hard to turn on the water, it sticks a little,” he added.

Hope paused for a moment and analyzed what Alex had just said and then nodded her head in agreement and started to walk toward the back room, still disoriented from the night before.

She paused once inside the master bathroom and stared at the shower for a moment. It was a simple enough concept; the pipe at the top supplied water and the hole at the bottom gave the water a place to go, simple fluid dynamics. Hope figured out it was some type of crude cleaning machine rather quickly, but how did it work? She reached in and grabbed the shower knob and twisted it back and forth with no results. She then pushed on the knob with the same results, and then, finally, with no other options, she pulled out the knob. She jumped back a foot or so, startled by the sudden flow of water. She closed the bathroom door and then, standing in the middle of the room curious about this cleaning machine, proceeded to take off her armor. It was out of pure curiosity that Hope decided to try the shower; even though she knew it was forbidden to remove her armor while on a mission, for some reason she felt like it was okay, or perhaps she just wanted to get out of the haze she was in from the night before. She lifted her arms above her head and her clothes turned back into a white liquid metal and then began to melt off slowly as she lowered her arms, forming a flat, round metallic disk on the floor. She adjusted the water temperature as Alex had suggested and stepped into the stall, feeling a little cold from the floor on her newly bare feet and quite exposed as she was now fully nude and unprotected as her armor sat on the floor outside the shower stall.

Hope had never washed like this before, cleansing on Caelo only involved only a thought and hordes of nanites going to work removing all particles from the body in a matter of seconds. She was pleasantly surprised the instant she stepped into the shower at how comforting the hot water was on her smooth skin. She just stood under the hot flow of water for about 10 minutes before she heard a knock at the door.

“Breakfast is ready, Hope,” Alex said through the door.

Hope turned off the water and stepped out of the shower onto the metallic disk on the floor, donning her armor once more. She entered the dining room, hair still dripping wet from the shower, and sat down at the table next to the kitchen where Alex was. He had plated breakfast for Hope and himself, which consisted of bacon, eggs, hash browns and a tall stack of pancakes for them to share. It took Alex four trips to bring all the food to the table, topping it off with a large carafe of orange juice in the center of the table. He had mustered his courage while he fixed breakfast and decided to just lay all his cards on the table and hope for the best should the occasion call for it.

Hope looked at all the food on the table and then at Alex, thinking to herself that it was a lot of food for two people.

“That’s a lot of food, Alex,” she said as she continued to look at the tall stack of pancakes.

Alex used his fork and slid two pancakes off the stack onto his plate and then covered them with syrup from the bottle he placed on the table. He took a large bite; then, with his mouth still full, he looked up at Hope.

“Okay, Hope, here it is… It’s crazy, but here it is anyway.” He swallowed his food. “I was driving home the other night and I thought I saw a fire along the side of the road. When I got closer to it, I realized it was not a fire…” He took a deep breath.

“It was some type of demon, a huge fiery demon, and it was fighting something. I don’t know what … an angel perhaps,” Alex said, waiting for Hope to tell him that he was fucking crazy or something.

Hope leaned forward and eagerly asked,

“This angel as you called it, what did it look like?”

Relieved that she did not call him crazy, he answered.

“It looked like a man, sort of, but it was white with tattoos all over its body and huge wings… Wait, you don’t think that’s crazy?” he asked as Hope was hanging on every word he said.

She leaned closer. “No, I don’t think that’s crazy. But I must know,” she said inquisitively as she stood up from the table, “did it look like this?” Her clothes quickly transformed, taking the form of her white royal armor and her ribbons emerged from her back with a bright golden glow as they took the form of large, golden metallic wings. Hope’s armor began to glow brightly with a blinding white light emanating from the designs on her chest.

“What the fuck?” Alex cursed out loud as he fell out of his chair backward and scooted back until he hit the wall behind him. He raised his hand up to Hope to try to cover up the bright light and shield his eyes. After the initial shock of the situation wore off, though he was startled by Hope’s transformation, for the most part, Alex was not afraid. There was just something about Hope that made him feel completely at ease whenever they were together.

“Yes, yes, it looked just like that!” he yelled as he tried to push himself further away from Hope, still recovering from the shock.

Hope withdrew her ribbons and her armor retracted, once again taking the form of normal clothing.

“Who or what was that I saw?” Alex asked, referring to the creature from the other night. He tried to figure out Hope’s connection to it and his imagination ran wild with possibilities, everything from evil cults to sorcery and space aliens.

“That man’s name is Gabriel and, yes, I know him, he is my amalgamate,” she said quickly.

“What is an amalgamate?” Alex asked, never having heard the word before.

“It is a member of your house. It is like a father or a mother, a brother or a sister, but with no blood relation. You are bound to your amalgamate and they to you; if one breaks the law all are punished as you are one with your amalgamate, as you are one with your house,” Hope said impatiently as she eagerly awaited a response from Alex.

“Oh… I’m so sorry, Hope… I had no idea,” Alex replied with sincerity. He looked into Hope’s eyes and told her of Gabriel’s death, trying desperately to be as gentle as he could.

Hope fell back in her chair, crushed by the news that instantly changed her life forever. After a few minutes of thinking, she leaned forward a bit and examined her plate. She picked up a slice of bacon and took a bite as if nothing was wrong.

“This is good, Alex, what is it?” she asked solemnly.

“Are you okay, Hope?” Alex asked while wrapping his head around the situation and looking over to her. “Is there anything I can do?”

Hope looked up at Alex, puzzled by his query. She looked at him intently and with a hint of disgust in her voice, she answered him.

“My house, the Animosus House, will be forever disgraced if Gabriel’s task is not finished… With Gabriel gone there is no way for my house to honor the council’s request. There are only two guards in House Animosus; unless I complete this task it will not be done by our house. And there is no way for me to complete it without the knowledge that certainly died with him… So, no, I don’t think there is anything you can do,” she told Alex with a sarcastic and angry tone.

“I’m so sorry, Hope, I know what it’s like to lose a loved one. It can be hard I know, but it will get better with time, you’ll see,” Alex reassured her.

Hope looked up at him. “Emotion has nothing to do with it, Alex, you do not understand… Gabriel was my amalgamate, it’s not like a spouse or relative here on Earth; that is just the closest thing to it I could think of to explain the term. He and I were selected at birth to be together, based on our DNA compatibility and our genetic profile. We occupy the same house and are responsible for each other like siblings or partners would be. When one fails so does the other, but there is no emotional connection between us.” She explained to Alex as best she could.

“How did it happen?” she asked, changing the subject. Alex could not understand what Hope was telling him, how could there not be an emotional connection between them if they were like siblings? He ultimately gave up trying to understand the concept and decided to just go with it. He answered Hope’s question hesitantly, not knowing what to expect next.

“The big demon thing hit him, and he kind of … well … evaporated right in front of me,” he said.

Hope knew Alex didn’t understand and, taking pity on his primitive mind, she told him,

“That was his armor, Alex; when it detects a mortal wound, it vaporizes itself and its bearer.” She lowered her head.

“All is lost. There is no way to recover the knowledge in Gabriel’s ánimam once it’s destroyed,” Hope said, showing Alex a hint of emotion for the first time.

“I don’t know what all that stuff means, but if it helps… Gabriel said something to me before he died,” Alex offered.

Hope quickly looked up at him. “What did he say, Alex?”

“He said something about… That’s right—” Alex recalled the moment in his head “—he was on the ground, and said, ‘Take his spirit, and destroy the … something.’ He trailed off at the end,” Alex said as he shook his head, trying to remember any other detail.

“That’s all I can remember,” he said.

Hope went quiet for a minute as she thought of Alex’s statement. Is it possible? she thought to herself then asked, “Alex, the demon as you call it, was it still alive when Gabriel died? Or was it dead?”

He replied, “It was alive… Why?”

“How is that possible, Alex? I found the remains on the hillside, the daemon was killed,” Hope pronounced.

“It was the golden ribbon thingies, they killed it,” he said.

A puzzled look crossed Hope’s face.

“Wait… You mean the daemon was destroyed by an ánimam after Gabriel died?” she asked.

“No, it wasn’t a ghost, it was those gold ribbon things, and, yes, it was after he died. They knocked me over, too, in the process.”

Hope smiled as she realized what he meant by a ghost.

“Alex, a spirit is a weapon, not a ghost, it is a Sub Photonic Interface with an artificial Intelligence or, as Gabriel used to call it, spirit for short. This device is called an ánimam, Alex, the golden ribbons you saw coming from my body just now.” Hope stood up from the table and walked over toward Alex, placing her hand on his back and closing her eyes for a moment. “And you have one inside you… Gabriel must have given it to you before he died.”

“I don’t understand, Hope, what do you mean I have one inside me?” Alex said with a trembling panic in his voice.

Hope took a few steps back from him.

“Here, let me show you.” As she stood before Alex, gold metallic ribbons emerged from her back and made their way through the air toward him. Alex jumped out of his chair backward, landing on his ass again.

“Holy shit! … What are those things?” he screamed as he landed, unable to get any further away.

Hope smiled at Alex then, without moving a muscle, picked him up off the floor with her ribbons, standing him on his feet.

“These ribbons are just part of my ánimam; it is like a weapon and toolkit all in one. They are made of trillions of microscopic Nanobots connected together. They communicate with me and each other using light and are powered by the very atoms they can manipulate. They are called nanites separately, but together they make an ánimam and can be whatever you need them to be. Because they can change matter at a molecular level they can heal wounds and store incredible amounts of data that you can access with your mind. They can take the form of anything you can imagine and can generate massive amounts of energy, enough energy to open a porthole through space,” Hope explained as she walked up to Alex and placed her hand on his face.

“You see, Alex, Gabriel gave his ánimam weapon to you before he died. All his memories lie within that ánimam so he is not completely gone, I can finish his task and bring honor to my house.”

Alex stood there with a blank expression as he thought. “That type of technology does not exist yet, Hope, how can this be?” he asked.

“I’m not from around here Alex, I come from another planet called Caelo,” Hope told him gently.

“So, I have those things inside me right now?” Alex asked as he was about to go into shock.

“Yes Alex, you do, and as it turns out you can do something for me after all. You can give me the knowledge I need,” Hope said with a big grin on her face.

Alex took a minute to come to grips with everything, but he took it surprisingly well Hope thought.

“There is only one problem with that, Hope.”

“Yes, Alex?”

“I have no idea how to do that,” Alex said, trying not to disappoint her.

Hope snickered. “I will have to teach you then,” she said as a golden ribbon rose up between them with a piece of bacon in its folds.

“Right after breakfast,” she said, grabbing the bacon and taking a bite.