"Where are we?"
"I don't know… Now shush, Matt and Astrid are still sleeping."
"Damn I envy them. Do you want to be my partner Rhin? I-"
A hit, quickly followed by the sound of something falling to the ground were heard.
"Don't even think about it, Falco! And I'm already with Wilfys anyway."
"What! But you're both girls!" Falco was outraged
"And? Members of the clan can't have children anyway so it doesn't really matter who I'm with."
The entire group was here, at the bottom of this strange vertical cavern, strange patterns and runes were drawn on the walls with white paint.
Nine of the group were already standing upright, searching for an exit, reading the runes or arguing while two of them were still laying on the only dry spot on the stone cold floor.
"They are waking up." said Bohr
"Finally, they haven't helped since we found ourselves down here. Is this a nightmare?" Falco said
"Do you want me to hit you again to make sure ?" Rhin
Matt was the first to stand up and was followed by Astrid shortly after. "What is happening?"
"We don't know, we also woke up down here a few minutes ago." this time it was Nicolas that answered
Matt started looking around, the entrance of this cave is about forty meters above them so it would be hard to exit from there and the multitude of symbols around them meant that they weren't lost.
"I think I got something" Wilfys exclaimed, "Look this is the only laguz (ᛚ water) rune and the stone around it is a little clearer."
"We should think ab-" Bohr wasn't able to finish his sentence as Wilfys already pressed on the rune slightly. It and the small part around it slid into the wall causing a small vibration to be heard.
*Drip* *Drip* *Downpour*!
"Fuck not again" was all Matt could say before a huge amount of water started to fall from above them. "Search for any stone with a rune on it or that stands out but don't press them yet !"
The water kept on rising, soaking everyone. It made the puzzle that much harder to focus on and it became even worse when they weren't able to stand on the ground anymore.
"There ! An Ansuz (ᚨ signal) rune." Astrid exclaimed, looking up towards the place she was looking at I could see that there was about three meters between us and the symbol, we had to wait for the water to keep rising to reach it…
Half an hour where the water kept on rising passed. Everyone started to get tired out.
Finally being on the same level as the rune, they pressed it making another vibration shake the cave. This time however, nothing seemed to have happened..
"What !? Did we do the wrong thing or are we bound to drown here ?" Rhin started to panik
"Something must have happened, search for it !" Heimer tried to calm everyone down.
"I already checked. Nothing changed around or above us." Astrid explained, "The only place left is... below us."
Looking down you could only see an abyss. The water had already risen to reach about ten or eleven meters in depth.
"I'll go. Try to limit your movements until I'm back." Matt said and before anyone could dissuade him from it he had already dived down.
Splitting the water with his hands and pushing himself down Matt was able to see the rocky floor he had previously laid on. A little screen was now visibly connected to it showing five rows of english letters.
Was this a coded lock ? A control terminal ?
Matt tried a few combinations but it always failed. He then thought about the symbols, did he miss something ?
He thought for a while and suddenly got an idea after he started lacking air.
This was the coming of age ceremony so there is bound to be a relation with the runes !
The Berkana (ᛒ Growth), Dagaz (⋈ Breakthrough), Gebo (ᚷ partnership), Uruz (ᚢ Strength) and opila (ᛟ heritage) runes were the closest to the concept.
Now how do we get runes into English letters ? Overall shape ? But that would mean there are no vowels, bmxnr doesn't make any sense… unless.
He dialed in the letters ☬༒ [̲̅n][̲̅m][̲̅b][̲̅r][̲̅x] ༒☬.
[Command NMBR-X has been input into the central command server, waiting for confirmation from Mars overseer…]
A very deep robotic voice that didn't sound like his system sounded. Two little lasers suddenly came out from the screen's edges and shined straight into my eyes, not hurting that much but still blinding him for a short instance.
[Professor Matthew Ward identified, command authority is unsatisfactory.]
[Searching for military supervisors… Not found]
[Designated survivor protoval activated, Professor Matthew Ward has been given complete authority over Valhalla facility.]
[Command confirmed and accepted, activating project Number-X]
[Subject number 001, 002, 003...009 activating… Cryostasis successfully cancelled.]
[Activating project Svartalfheim to sustain Number-X project…]
[Activation successful]
[Strategic security bunker has detected structural problems. Activating the Dagaz pumps…]
The water started to drain, making the ten that were still staying afloat on top slowly descend. Matt took a quick breather but didn't seem to be particularly happy to finally be able to have stable footing and breathe again. He was much more concerned by what the AI just said
He kind of got used to the so-called gods being AI's with a purpose inspired by the mythological gods. In this case, Mars, god of war, was probably in charge of a military facility and the strategic bunker that they were supposedly in right now, even though it looked like most of it turned into stone...
But this is what made him even more anxious, he had just activated a random weapon programm from the old civilisation instead of using the Dagaz (⋈ Breakthrough) word to activate the pumps.
What had he done ?
Unknown POV:
Where am I ? Did they finally release me ? THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS !
[Opening cryogenic chamber 002... Welcome back subject zero-two.]
The metal coffin I was in opened up letting out cold air that was stuck next to me into the room in front of me.
I stepped out and looked around to make those bastard scientists pay but something seemed strange…
The entire room was chaotic, chairs and desks flipped and broken, human skeletons that seemed to have fossilised were laying everywhere, the lighting was very poor and flickering and a thick layer of dust covered all corners of the room.
It was as if thousands of years had passed and that the lab I was kept in my entire life was now an empty shell.
"Growl." a deep growl came from beside me and after glancing to the side I immediately recognised who it was.
"Good morning zero-one, it's such a surprise they chose to wake us up at the same time!" I exclaimed joyfully.
The thing I was talking to was zero-one, a genetically altered death row prisoner that became a beast with upturned flesh and pustules covering its back. While its sorry state was sad, I was very happy to have been let out with another subject. It's been a long time since I have seen them all.
"Hmm apparently they freed all of us… It is very unlikely for them to make such a mistake. Did the AI malfunction perhaps?"
Looking to the other side where the voice came from I recognized seven other people that, just like me and 01 came out from a row of aligned cryogenic chambers.
The one that talked was zero-four, a very tall and slender man in a black tuxedo.
I wanted to chat with him since we hadn't done so in a while, sadly I didn't even have time to start as the Svartalfheim AI overseer sounded out.
[Subject Number-X released successfully. All numbers are now ready for action.]
[Professor Matthew Ward has ordered your release. You are given free time until your warrantor, Mr. Ward, gives you further instructions.]
I looked up at a holographic projection showing the face of a man I had never seen before and some of his information.
Name : Professor Matthew Ward
History : Biology professor, inventor of the transmutation nukleus and the nanobot stabilisers, started the genesis program…
Status : Deceased
Location : Project valhalla, greenhouse ark, central sector
I've never seen him before, is he not from the lab ? It sounds like he's a smart guy with all those achievements… but why does it say deceased? Was there a malfunction?
This doesn't matter, I remember his face now and I'll make sure to "thank him" for getting us out.
Well… my thanks can vary depending on whether he's from the institute or not…
If he is I'll make sure that he'll have a quick death, if he isn't… Hehehe. I'll make him my Darling ! MY DARLING!
…I hope this one won't break too fast, hihihi.
Looking at myself in a puddle of water at my feet I saw the sweet smile on my face. My previous Darlings were always scared of me… Are my horns what scares them? My sharp teeth? Or is it just… me?
It doesn't matter, I'm sure that my new Darling won't mind. And in case he doesn't I'll make sure to change his mind hihihi.