Marlin observed the door, taking a deep breath before knocking.
"Come in," A voice said from behind it.
Marlin walked in. The smell of the room was sweet, eucalyptus mixed with lavender. The room was mostly taken up by a large canopy bed with slightly transparent pink curtains. Two people stood near the bed, a petite feminine silhouette and a tall masculine one. The slight beep of a heart-rate monitor could be heard, muffled by the curtains. The only lights on were the ones strung overhead in the bed's canopy.
Kiari leaned in towards the figure on the bed, then pulled the curtain aside and walked out. As he did so, Marlin glanced inside. The nurse had a glass filled with the vitality sap that some goons had collected from the orange trees. She mixed it with water and other medicine to make it go down easier. The woman on the bed was in her twenties, with dark blond hair. Her ordinarily dark tan skin was now a sickly grey. Her eyes were shut, and her breathing was shallow.
"How's Addilynn?"
"Well, after we found the sap, her health stabilized slightly, and she isn't on the verge of...well, but nurse says that we don't know how long this will work. Anyways, you have good news for me?" As soon as Kiari asked, he regretted it, as he saw Marlin's eyes get wetter than usual. "What happened?"
Marlin choked back a sob and reiterated what Geier had told him earlier.
Kiari's nostrils flared, and he gritted his teeth. "Follow me," he commanded in a subdued voice and exited the room.
Atop the hill with the waterfall, Jashin looked around. Asking the rest of them to look and tell him if they see anything the least bit suspicious.
He moved his hand along the grass, feeling around. His fingers caught the edge of something, and he grabbed it and yanked open the hatch, quickly ushering everyone inside before closing it behind him. Ivy clung to the new man's back as they descended the ladder. The descent was long and murky, light not reaching a foot in front of their eyes. Her light-up shoes gave the tunnel a strange glow.
Barely anyone had said a word since the earlier encounter; Jashin had been the only one talking, instructing everyone where to go.
The damp, earthy smell only increased as they descended the ladder. Zoe half expected to grab onto an earthworm at some point. She looked up at Ivy, a heavy wave filling her mind. 'I barely did anything. She almost died, and I just froze.'
Flickering light from below slowly illuminated the tunnel as they went lower and lower. The rock sides were jagged and sharp. Spiders and other odd insects scurried alongside them, their eyes glistening as they watched them pass downwards.
Once they reached the bottom, Zoe skimmed the surrounding area; the light was dim, but she was still amazed by what she saw. Towering luminous mushrooms alongside cold pine trees filled the enormous cavern. Scattered throughout the forest were stone statues. The biggest one was made to be hunched over on one knee, holding up the cave roof with his arms and back—below, the fungi cast blue, green, and purple light across its frame. Others were wearing clothes from different eras and cultures. Large granite pillars stood adjacent to one another. On the cavern walls, paintings and murals hung; some were of historical events, others depicting fantastical beasts and what looked like humans using magic.
Though faint, they thought they could hear it, an auditory afterimage. The sounds of past footsteps and murmurs emanating from the fungi itself. Playing back memories.
There was a trickling coming from the far wall. In the middle looked to be a stone pond, no bigger than a hot tub. A small stream of water came from an open faucet set several feet above it. The water seemed to sparkle as it reflected an invisible light.
The man holding Ivy walked over to the tub. He submerged her under the water, telling her to drink as much as she could. Luminescence in the water glowed as it made contact with her. The inside of her throat radiated the blue light as she gulped down the water.
Zoe held onto her necklace, nervously biting it, eyes wide, watching Ivy close her eyes and go under. She lay still, unbreathing, and submerged; no air bubbles appeared at the surface of the water. Zoe stepped forward, ready to pull her out, when Ivy rocketed out of the water, ending up several meters in the air and landing on her feet inside the pond. A big grin on her face as she looked down at herself, flexing and stretching her muscles, then looked at Ivy and Colson.
Zoe found herself smiling inside, though a bit of that feeling must have shown in her eyes, as Colson noticed.
"What are you so happy about?" He said. But that tiny smile was infectious and dissipated most of the adrenaline that pounded through their bodies. He shook his head but had a wide grin on his face. He turned to Ivy, "Crazy. You know that? You're insane."
As Zoe asked a million questions about how the water worked, Jashin filled up a cup of the water and gave it to Colson while he submerged himself inside the concrete tub.
"I feel a lot stronger. Like...really a lot stronger!" Ivy said, looking down at herself. Not knowing if it was her imagination or not, but she looked a lot more toned and muscular than before. "Say, Zoe, I wanna try something."
"Huh?" Was all Zoe could say before Ivy grabbed her and effortlessly tossed her several feet into the air. "Ivy!" She screeched as she grabbed onto her necklace and held her eyes shut, hating the feeling of falling.
When she opened her eyes again, she was face to face with Ivy, who had had a big toothy grin. Zoe managed to wriggle out of her arms.
"Ya know, if I tried again, I could probably get you to touch the ceiling…."
"No, I'm good. Thank you for asking. You know what, why don't you throw Colson? He's heavier than I am, so you should be able to gauge how much stronger you are. I'm sure he'd be thrilled."
Ivy looked over to Colson, who said, "Try it, and you'll need to be put back in the water."
Ivy yawned and sat down on a nearby bench. "I think I'm gonna…." She yawned again. "I'm gonna…" she slumped over, instantly falling asleep.
"Are we allowed to sleep here?" Zoe asked.
"We aren't 'not' allowed," the man in purple said, looking at Jashin.
"Well," Jashin said, "The only way in and out is back up the ladder, and I don't think any of us want to do that right now. So I guess it's okay for now."
The man said, "I want to thank you, kids, for helping us. Now that I'm here, This'll be done soon. But once this is over, I'll tell…who's the main guy at Crater now? Is it still Neph?"
"Yeah," Colson nodded.
"Jeez, that guy…well, I'll tell him you guys are alright."
The firelight from inside the brazier made the shadows dance along the cavern walls and made their faces look almost evil in the light.
Zoe reached down, picking up something that scuttled across the floor. An eight-legged insect with a sleek brown and green segmented shell. About as large as her palm, she watched as it turned, looking around in confusion.
"So, who are you supposed to be?" Colson asked; he looked slightly uncomfortable with Ivy, who'd shifted in her sleep, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You don't really dress like you're from here." He pointed to Jashin, "have you seen his sister?"
"I've known her for a long time."
"She dresses like she's a hippie who babbles about crystals all day."
"You didn't tell them who I was yet?" The man looked at Jashin for his reaction, a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Guess not," Jashin shrugged.
"Well, I'm Idris; you may also know me as the black lancer of luck." He was silent as if awaiting applause.
"Hold on! What was that magic you guys were doing back there?" Zoe asked.
Jashin and Idris exchanged looks.
Idris shrugged, "Should we tell 'em?"
"No, I don't think we should. They have a weird way of training those kids at Crater. I think it was Neph's idea; it's apparently a very top secret thing. If you aren't perfect, then they won't teach you how to do it."
"I don't care what the guy thinks. Plus, these kids are going to have to learn soon enough; it could be life or death at that point. I think he'd rather them live with taboo knowledge than be dead."
"Perhaps, but I think we should wait until the time is right to tell them. Plus, we don't know if we'll need them, anyway."
"I only just arrived, but I'm guessing they've helped a good bit, right? It'll only be fair. It's pretty good that I got back when I did. You guys would've been screwed. Either way," Idris glanced over at Ivy, "They've done more than any of these farmers three times their senior. Some know how to use their shimmer, but they'd rather hide. Most here aren't battle types."
Jashin looked to Zoe, "You should get to sleep. We may discuss this later. But not now."
Minutes later, everyone seemed to fall asleep almost instantly, but Zoe. Her heart was still pounding. The brazier in the middle of their circle was nothing but dim embers, the occasional snap from the moisture in the wood. She squinted forwards, seeing a statue that stood out from the rest, its head slowly and silently spinning, revealing its two opposite faces. One was a man with a goatee and intense eyes. The other was a boy; the look on his face was one of anguish and pain. It held two coins in between its fingers. Curious, though she didn't want to get too close, as the whole thing unnerved her greatly.
"You wanna know the story behind that?"
Idris' voice made Zoe almost scream out. She quickly cupped her hands over her mouth.
"Sorry," Idris chuckled. "I just noticed you were eye-balling that thing pretty hard."
"Yeah, it's…nice."
"You can be honest. The thing is creepy as hell. Doesn't help that they put it in this weird cave thing. When I was a kid, this used to not be here. But I guess it turned out to be useful after all."
"I don't get it. Is the face on the right supposed to be sad or hurt?"
"Well, maybe both."
Over one hundred years ago, an orphaned boy lived in the village. He wasn't given a name at birth, but a local boy, Kendrick, a pastor in training, decided to call him Oskar. He was very slow-minded, obviously so. Because of this, he was treated very cruelly by almost everyone. The kids found it fun to torment the child, and the adults saw him as a burden as he was never able to farm. They would send a majority of their crops to Crater, and they were ordered to give part of their crops to a boy too stupid to work.
Kendrick always liked Oskar. No matter his situation, he always had a bright and happy attitude. To Kendrick, Oskar was the single ray of light in the storm clouds. No matter how terrible everyone was to him, he never saw the boy even frown once.
As Kendrick got to know Oskar, learning who he was, his interests, and such. He learned of his dream to travel, not just to other states or countries—but to the stars. It wasn't just an interest; it was an obsession. Especially for the planet Saturn. He could talk Kendrick's ear off about a story of a man named Janus who could create doorways to anywhere he wanted. Despite not being able to farm, he had manufactured a telescope from a broken beer bottle and a hollow cylindrical piece of wood. That was his true talent. Kendrick would defend him to his peers, calling him a "savant." He could name every constellation and calculate the distance between one star and the next. Drawing diagrams of the visible universe which was later found to somehow be scaled perfectly. He would create sundials in his spare time, spending hours getting them exactly perfect. The next day, it would be destroyed by one of the villagers.
During one savage winter, the crops failed. Everyone was hoarding food to themselves. Oskar had no home, so all he could do was beg someone to feed him. It wasn't uncommon for him to go days without eating. One day he wanted to try the church as most of its members and Kendrick were always kind to him. But that day, everyone was absent from the building. Not being able to move any further, he curled up in a ball and starved to death inside. When he was found the next day, he was found to be clutching a metal coin, just like the one the statue was holding. He held it so tight that it frostbit his fingers.
When the villagers fell asleep that night, they all had the same dream. That morning, they saw a stone figure with two faces erected in the center of their town. One was of the boy, Oskar. It had the same features as how he died, so every time they saw that statue, they'd be reminded of how they treated him. And one of the man himself. The one who gave them the dream, Janus.
"Well, that's the gist of it," Idris said. "Also, on his hands were several rings; one of them was actually called the angel's ring."
"Wait, is that actually real?" Zoe asked, her face filled with curiosity.
"Uh, parts of it. It's hard to say." Idris shrugged. "I mean, that story's been told for over a hundred years, right? The myth of a godly diety spread pretty wide, and I'm sure a lot of it got lost in translation, ya know?"
The sun rose over the horizon, burning away the morning mildew and fog. Idris stared blankly into the sunrise. Sitting next to him on the stone silo, Ivy rested her head on the railing, yawning.
"Say, why do they call you the black lancer if you're purple?"
"I don't know. The name was given a while ago, and it just seemed to stick."
"The mostly black lancer. The slightly purple lancer?"
"Ivy, I will drop you from the top of this silo," Idris yawned, getting to his feet. "Jashin, I think we should teach them. It would be a lot better to have them with us, and to know energy, than us by ourselves or being burdened with cowardly farmers."
"Yea, I think you're right, but neither of us know how to properly teach it."
"Oh," Idris said, realizing the problem. "Yea...that is an issue…I'd suggest that we go to the library, but, well, you know…What about the 'baptism' technique?"
"Maybe," Jashin said, rubbing his chin.
"Hold on," Colson said, narrowing his eyes. "This isn't some kind of occult bitchcraft, is it?"
"Not at all," Idris reassured.
"How did you guys learn to do it? Just teach us the way you learned." Ivy said.
"That's probably what we'll end up doing," Jashin said, "but I'm not sure if it's the safest and most efficient use of time. For most people, it takes years to unlock. So we'd need to figure out a method…even so, the issue of Crater's secrecy policies. I was thinking since Cassius is a part of the colony—technically—I think we'd still face consequences."
"Well," Idris said, "then let's just split the difference; we just tell them the absolute bare minimum and won't reveal any more than that. So let's just start. Figure it out as we go," He looked over at the kids and leaned close, "You aren't going to snitch on us, will you?"
"No," the trio said in unison.
"See, we'll be fine. If they ask, just say that you learned it on your own."
A cloaked man crept down the cobblestone street. He made sure he kept to the shadows. He glanced around at the surrounding homes. 'Where are they? The place is crawling with them one second, and then they're gone the next!" '
He heard a clicking sound above him on the roof of a house. Without thinking, he jumped back, taking a sickle and a sawed-off shotgun from his back. He aimed the weapon toward the rooftop; a massive black eagle stared back at him. Its unblinking golden eyes seemed to stare right through the man.
"Man, I feel like I'm losing it," he muttered as he lowered his weapons.
As he walked down the road, he saw the eagle follow him out of the corner of his eye.
He crossed one of the bridges and entered the east side of Cassius.
"Hey," a voice said from a few feet behind him.
"Wha?" That was all the man could say. He hadn't heard anyone following him and hadn't sensed the presence of anyone watching him; besides the bird.
He turned around, coming face to face with three men. Kiari, Marlin, and Geier stood there with smirks on their faces. Geier forcefully put a hand on the man's shoulder.
Blood trickled from the man's mouth and onto the dusty cobblestone. His breath was ragged as he tried to speak. "Please," he coughed harshly. "Just…let me go!" One of his eyes was swollen shut, but he still pushed himself up to look them in the eyes. "I don't know where the temple is! You're not getting anything from me, okay?"
"So, the Angel's Ring is in a temple? That's good to know, but it's not why we came to you," Kiari said. "What's your name?"
The man cursed himself. He didn't know how he could let something like that slip out, but it was too late. "Jaim," he spat.
Kiari dragged the man to his knees and then crouched down to be at the same eye level as him.
"Why were you out here sneaking around? Were you looking for trouble?"
"I…I was just trying to get information."
"That's good," Kiari reached down and placed his open palm on the man's chest. A pink aura surrounded Kiari, "Nitro-Cell!"
Jaim stumbled back, "Wha-what'd you just do?"
"I suggest you listen to me if you don't want to die. If you tell anyone about our encounter, you will die on the spot. If you try to leave Cassius, you will die," his aura dissipated.
Jaim looked down at his chest; he saw nothing. He frantically patted himself down, then looked back at Kiari with confusion.
"You've just been rigged with an explosive that can go off at any time. Whenever I touch a living thing with my palm and all five fingers of one hand and say the word 'Nitro-Cell,' they will be fitted with an invisible bomb. I must also know the name of my target for it to be placed. I can also just make explosions in my palms at will, but it will be a much smaller effect. If you attempt to remove the bomb, I will detonate it. Trust me, it's there. Unless you're willing to call my bluff?" An old brick phone appeared in Kiari's hand. With a few button presses he could call the bomb, and…
"Why are you telling me this?"
"So you will understand the seriousness of the situation and hopefully won't try anything stupid."
"What do you want?"
"Are you a part of that group that meets up to plot against us? They took out a few of my friends yesterday near the aviary."
"No…I haven't had a chance to meet with them."
"Well, I want you to find out where and when they're having these meetings. Report back at the library when you do figure it out. When you do that, I'll remove the bomb myself."
The three watched the man hobble away; Kiari's cocky smirk faded as he turned away, looking back at the river.
"Now what?" Geier asked.
Ivy, Colson, Zoe, Jashin, and Idris stood in a forest clearing; both men stood before the trio, surveying their stances.
"Ivy, loosen up; your muscles are too tense," Idris commanded.
"Zoe, you look nervous; open up your stance more!" Jashin said.
After a few minutes of this, Idris shook his head. "This isn't going to work." He pulled Jashin aside. "Listen, we can't sit here all day and babysit them into using this stuff."
"What? That was your idea!"
"Just listen. We do the one method of forcing energy into their bodies, to open up their glands."
"Okay, I see what you mean. The 'baptism method' like you were saying earlier. I don't know how to do it safely, do you?"
Idris shook his head, "No, but you're much better at that control stuff than I am. I'll end up killing them. But I bet it would only be like a seventy percent chance for you."
"Do we really need to resort to this? It seems a bit extreme."
"Because I doubt those thugs'll let us kill the werewolf guy without any blowback. We need to thin the herd while they practice. We take a walkie-talkie, and they can ask us if they need something."
Jashin thought for a minute, "Alright, that's a good idea."
Idris turned back to the trio. His eyes were cold and steely. "There has been a change of plans. This is the only way to open your natural energy glands in a reasonable time. It will be dangerous. Death or permanent injury is a possibility. We will use restraint, but the possibility is still there. Over there," Idris pointed towards Cassius, "they all know how to manifest their energy. Kids or adults, they do not care who dies. Without this, they can easily overpower you and will kill you or despoil you without a second thought."