ANother great Landmark! My first serious DGM story! I hope you enjoy the opening and first chapter!
Glass Coffins
Deep from the depths of a chasm that cut through the hillside like a butcher knife to flesh, steam bled from the Earth. It danced into the air, casting ghostly images into the ground against the light of a full moon. The shadows of the steam were to be short-lived, blown away by a gust of wind. The moisture and heat remained even in the otherwise cool darkness of night. A stray cat crept to the edge of the gap and stared down into the abyss, raising its lips in a hiss.
It's only a matter of time, she thought with rage lingering on her tongue. It will only be a matter of time until they find it. The last of the steam's silhouette dissipated.
Komui lounged back in his chair and looked over the bi-weekly report. Or, rather, he looked at about five of the five hundred reports that he had mostly dumped on Reever to take care of. His feet had been comfortably up on the desk while he read along the usual uninteresting drabble the Order members were forced to write every other week. What had he actually discovered from these? Well, Kanda actually had quite beautiful penmanship. That was about it though. Never had anything actually important come from one of those to-be-shredded reports.
Until that day.
For the first time in a very long time, Komui could feel his stomach doing flips just reading a report from a group of Finders that had been sent to a newly discovered island in the Mediterranean. He cleared his throat and tried to call for the overworked assistant, but all that he managed was a tiny squeak. He had to concentrate very hard to keep the file from slipping right out of his hands and being washed away in the sea of paper on which his desk was floating with effort.
That report may well have contained the things that would ruin, or save them all.
Part 1- The Book of the Dead
"You're kidding me!" Lavi whipped the papers around in his hands for the hundredth time, looking for more information that was not there. "This is unreal! This is just… wow!"
Allen rubbed his head as he scuffed a hole in the dirt with the heel of his boot. The boat, not surprisingly, was very late. "Lavi, can you explain to me what this things is, exactly?"
The young Bookman gave Allen a bemused look. "You don't understand it?!"
"… Not really."
The white-haired boy could hear a very irritated Kanda sigh behind him, wishing that the boy hadn't given the red-head another excuse to talk.
Lavi, on the other hand, was overjoyed to have an excuse to feel very smart. "Allen, they found the Book of the Dead! The Netherworld Tome!"
"… What?"
"It's a book that contains the very secrets of life and death." He cleared his voice, attempting to sound official. "The book has been mentioned a few times in mythology, most frequently by the Egyptians. However, not even they really understood the sheer power sealed away in the pages of the Netherworld Tome. It's said that the book was written before the destruction of the Old World by the Millennium Earl, and it managed to survive because one of the last groups of people left surviving in the world sealed it away inside of a cave in the Earth. Recently, due to mysterious seismic activity, that cave opened back up, and the book was found!"
"…So what does that have to do with us?"
"… Good question…"
Inspector Howard Link's eye twitched slightly. "Allen, it's a book that controls Life and Death. It's not something we can afford to let the Noah and the Earl to get first."
He tilted his head to one side. "I guess you're right."
Lenalee chewed on the edge of her thumb and stared at the open water that stretched before them. The blue-green seemed to calm her nerves slightly, but not enough to allow her to function without further distraction. At a time when the Dark Order was so vulnerable, they had found something that might tilt every odd in their favor. Or kill them all. However, the item did not play on her mind as lightly as it came from her mouth.
The dark-haired woman's breath came in bursts of excitement. Her long fang-like teeth were bared in a glittering grin to match the fire in her eyes. "It's been such a long time. This could be it, Orya. This could be the ticket to freedom!" When she did not get an answer, the woman shot an angry glare to the blonde girl who was sitting quietly behind.
Sitting on her lap was a glistening polearm that was mostly hidden in the shade the two female sat in. Her green eyes showed no apparent focus, trailing off into the bark of the tree. She was very silent for a very long time, getting on the nerves of her companion.
"Hey! Answer me!"
"Shut up Sagani." Her tone was overflowing with rage and discomfort.
The woman bit her tongue as she stared at the younger female. 'This is so unfair!' she thought. 'I should be the Head, not her!! That little brat! UGH!
"I have better things to do than sit here," the blonde said with frustration. "You take care of the guests. I'm going home." And, without another word or explanation, the girl stood and left, fading away into the shade of the tree.
Sagani grumbled and furled her brows tightly. "What a little wench! Leaving ME to do all the work?!" She crossed her arms and seethed in silence.
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