Truths from the Past: Book 5 of the Kinstone series

We continue our ride through the streets of the first tier and finally pass through the gates of the second. Again the streets are completely empty, no lights, no trains buzzing overhead, no one walking along the walkways. We run through the market where we fought Critias, now seeing it completely abandoned.

The second tier houses over five thousand people and yet now it’s utterly deserted. It’s creepy and unsettling to see it like this. There aren’t even any undead soldiers patrolling the streets. Maybe the diversion of the others really is working and drawing off as many as they can.

This leads me to two reasons for this. This first being the people have fled and made it out. The second, and the grimmer one, is everyone here has been killed. I really don’t want to believe that to be the case.

I pan over as we pass by my school. It lies quiet and lifeless. I can still see images of students passing through the gates and talking with friends as they head off for class. Part of me wants to turn the clock back a couple days, in that I was in blissful ignorance and heading to class with my own friends. However…I know that can never happen.

I really hope Le’nia and Tanith made it out.

We turn down yet another road, thinking it might shave off some time. As we come upon a group of buildings, I sense something that feels the same as the undead knights, only ten times stronger. I pan over to see something glowing in the distance, giving off a faint sickening green. It’s something that humans or most races from the mortal realm can’t see.

I gently nudge Fenris towards the glow. He turns his head to it and nods, changing direction.

“Where are you going, Aria?” asks Celes as she follows after me.

“There’s something over here,” I reply to her.

We pass through an alley until we come upon a clearing with a pair of gigantic brick buildings, each the size of the field house at Sem and yet don’t match the aesthetics of the city. Celes and Athena stride beside us, with my sister looking to me.

As I gaze up at them, I feel my magic flaring wildly. How could something like this be so well hidden from everyone?

“Nei’shy, we do not have time to-” she stops midsentence and gazes at the buildings, both bearing the crest of Nethune.

“Something’s here,” I tell her, “something Nethune’s been hiding.

Celes nods and we both dismount our wolves. We then head towards the door and pull it open.

The interior is vast and cavernous. All around me I see rows upon rows of liquid-filled tubes that seem to go on forever. I pan around, finding tables full of Orkona and other loose papers strewn about. Sitting on top of a few more are crystal monitors with data streaming across the screens.

“This…this is a lab,” I whisper.

I can’t believe something like this exists in the city. My sister nods as we venture in deeper. Part of me thinks I’m back in the future given the equipment and setup I’m looking at. However, it’s still feels somewhat in line with the city.

I approach one of the tubes, gazing into the dark, murky liquid. My eyes widen slightly as I see a person floating inside. I look around, summoning a ball of light and shines it, revealing even more people floating. All of them are in various states of decay while also seemingly being transformed. Their bodies slowly contorting and muscle mass expand.

My ears then flick yet again as the sound of machinery echoes about. I pan over to my right to see a large machine whirling with tubes flowing with blue energy. I can feel the raw power of the leyline coursing through the tubes. Nethune is directly pulling the mana from the leyline itself. That alone is beyond stupid.

I draw on the leyline when needed, but even with as powerful as I am, I’m still just one person. I could never pull on it on this scale.

These tubes then snake their way across the building through tubes up in the rafters. I gaze back towards the tubes, feeling the corruption is strong here, and it's leaking.

The floor is pulsing with sickening green energy as many of the tubes in front of me are cracked, leeching out their contents and into the surrounding ground.

So this is what Viktor was talking about.

The necromantic liquids pool and flow around my feet, slowly crawling towards the pump. This is, if not just one, of the sources of the corruption plaguing the city. If the corruption here reaches the pump, it could be pulled into the leyline itself, with the liquids being drawn to it like a magnet. This could cause a chain reaction and destroy the city if not further.

These facts alone make our mission all the more important.

“Aria!” I hear Celes calling out to me. “There is a girl here wearing a school uniform.”

I rush over to her and I gaze up into the tube. My heart breaks as my eyes widen as I stare at her.

“Nerina,” I say. My first friend at school, the one whose been missing for several weeks, lies floating in front of me. Her body seems to be in a severe state of necrosis while also slowly growing in size much like the others here.

I recall the rumors from school about people being “chosen” and how their families were honored with wealth and prestige. I really wonder that was nothing more than a bribe.

I then recall all those times I’ve seen strange men walking about on the second tier, and then that morning I saw someone on the second level at home. Were they scouts? Going to specific places and then snatching people in the middle of the night and brought here only to be killed and violated like this?

I pan over to my left to see someone in the next to Nerina. This one is man and is much further along in the transformation process. My mouth opens wider as I recognize him.

“Fennec,” I say.

Celes looks to me and then to the tube, “Axana’s son? Why would she do such a horrible thing?”

I place my hand onto the tube, “This was what he must’ve been afraid of during our match.”

I agree with my sister, to do such a terrible thing to one’s child, and after losing to a sixteen-year-old girl in a sparring match? That’s beyond harsh and cruel.

My eyes then see several tubes. However instead of people floating in them, we see wolves. My heart shatters again as my anger swells. They bodies are even worse all than Nerina’s or Fennec’s, appearing far more desiccated and withered. It’s as though their bodies are being drained of their mana, acting as a fuel source.

Celes grits her teeth as she gazes at them. “There is no redeeming Nethune beyond this point. They have forever damned themselves for this sin.”

The wolves are sacred to the Dewlourans, yet here Nethune utterly treats them as nothing but research materials. I don’t even ponder when their ambition overruled their oaths. This fate is what befell Critias, although I don’t think this is where he was killed.

I growl, baring my fangs as my tails flare outward. Deep, sapphire flames erupt from the tips as I combine dragonfire with kitsune-bi. The nine balls of flame grow hotter and brighter as I step back, summoning more and more power. I hold up my sword, drawing some of it into a torrent.

Celes leaps back as I scream, swiping my sword, sending streams of flame that destroy the surrounding tubes, instantly incinerating their contents. I watch as Nerina’s body is consumed, praying her soul now receives the rest it deserves for this crime.

The flames spread outwards, destroying row after row of tubes, consuming everything, wolves, humans, nothing is left. The liquid from the tubes ignites in reaction to the flames of the spirit realm. If Yukari were here, she’d level the place in a heartbeat over this.

Celes charges her sword with magic and fires dozens of magical blades into the pump, destroying it. The resulting explosions from it ripple through the building, causing the surrounding equipment to explode as well. The blasts then move along the rafters, causing the roof to buckle and cave.

“We need to leave,” says Celes. I nod as we both then dash for the entrance.

As we exit, a rush of wind propels us forward as debris slams into the ground. I flip and slide on the stone tiles for a moment as the building collapses into a heap of burning metal and stone. I know the combined flames will take care of any lingering corruption, but it won’t purify it. I wish I could spare some time and perform any number of rituals, be they Celtic or Shinto, but I simply don’t have the time.

The sounds of the second building collapsing causes us to look over just as Fenris and Athena leap out just it crumples into its own heap. Both wolves then stroll over to us. I smile softly yet still pained with the fresh memories of our discoveries.

I pan back over to the remains of what used to be the labs. I know Nethune is going to be royally pissed when they find out about this.

Good.

I sheath my sword and hop onto Fenris with Celes doing the same with Athena. I take one last look at the smoldering heaps; praying those inside may now find peace.

We then turn and resume our mission, leaving the alcove.