Spiralling Down - Chapter 7

The world was rising just as fast as they were falling. Daxen looked out of the lift, retreating back into his thoughts, and yet still observing his surroundings. Gigantic gears shifted in a horizontal motion, evolving the ever changing world of Cradle. Daxen liked that part of Cradle. A world always moving, always realising that it has to be different in every way. Daxen observed his group, all tired and worn-out. He never wanted to be their undisputed leader, he never even wanted to be involved in this adventure. There was only two reasons why he chose to continue. One - Life in The Hall of Heroes was desperate and unhappening. He needed a sense of purpose in life. Before all of this, he was a depressed man, standing like a road side statue for people to admire or ignore. But now, he was a hero of sorts. And Two - Kozma. She was beautiful and cute, her baby blue armour complementing her sky blue eyes, radiating with joy. She was always optimistic and cheerful, but still intelligent at the same time. He had always admired her, even before the day she became the Quartermaster, which was a very long time ago. He was so glad that he found her still alive when he met her in the Town Square. And now, with whatever was happening, he wanted to prove himself to her, but being the leader of the group was proving too much for him. Remi's natural charm and confidence is perfect for this role, Daxen thought.

Kozma looked at Daxen. She was grateful to him for saving her. Her brain started rewinding, recalling back all the memories of her past. She remembered a memory, she was giving a health capsule to Daxen, whom got hit in the head by a Trojan. He was diagnosed with Amnesia then. But Amnesia can be recovered over time, and Kozma wondered whether Daxen could now recall his past and find out who he truly was. She crossed her eyes in concentration, but she noticed Daxen gazing at her, and she cocked her head to one side, hiding her emotions.

"Um guys, where are we heading?" Jorin asked, breaking the silence. No one responded. Everybody else were residing in their heads, oblivious to their surroundings. "Guys! Where are we heading?!" Jorin raised his voice this time. Sylvin was the first to respond back.

"We see what Kozma has in her hands," Sylvin said. At the mention of her name, Kozma realised that she was being waited on.

"Um, sorry, what is happening?' Kozma asked.

"What is that in your hands?" Sylvin asked, pointing towards the object that was in Kozma's grasp.

Kozma suddenly remembered that she was carrying something. She held up her hands and analysed the object. It was an old book. The discoloured leather cover opened up to damaged yellow pages. This book was sure to have not been cleaned for the past decade. Kozma blew off the dust, and coughed as it entered her lungs. Daxen stood beside Kozma, looking down on the book. The first page read:

"Origins of Cradle."

Daxen remembered him instructing Kozma to find a book about Cradle in Moorcroft Manor. He needed to find out about the Gremlin attackers who were responsible for the fall of Haven. Kozma's eyes furiously scanned the book, hoping to find any useful information. Her eyes suddenly locked on to a page. She was about to start reading it when the whole lift slowed down and finally stopping altogether. The lift had reached its destination. But what was the destination? Cradle was constantly changing, so that left the group to question their location. The lift gave a 'ding' and the lift doors opened. The group walked out, breathing in the new environment.

"What kind of level is this?" Echo asked. No answer came back, just as he expected. The group continued walking forward, their eyes roving around to their new environment. Everyone noticed the beauty of nature infusing itself with man made structures. Snipes, birds local to Cradle, perched on concrete walls, before taking flight with their rotary wings spinning around their plump ball-like bodies. Echo noticed concrete plates on the ground. It seemed like someone had already discovered this level before them, and intended to carve a road on the ground. Concrete structures were certainly not naturally occurring, and therefore, Daxen concluded, that someone had definitely been here. But why has such a place not been recorded in the Arcade hall? Everyone knew, that wherever they were, they have definitely not seen nor heard of this fascinating place before.

"Such a place exists, and everyone here has no knowledge of this level," Daxen thought. "Only two logical explanations can be deduced from this. One, that Gremlins were responsible for this. Two, a Spiral Knight discovered this place in a solo mission, and decided to keep it a secret, meaning treason to the Spiral Order." Daxen was impressed with his capability of formulating such conclusions, and could not help but let out a small grin.

"You alright there Daxen? You kind of zoned out for a moment," Echo asked, noticing that Daxen was smiling to himself.

"What?…Oh…yeah, I'm fine," Daxen replied to his best fried, snapping back to reality.

"Thinking of your special….uhm?" Echo said, with a tone of playfulness in his voice. His thumb jabbing towards Kozma, whom was reading a page in the old book.

"W-What? No. I was thinking of something else," Daxen retorted, his gaze fixed on Kozma.

"Uhm, sure," Echo said, unable to suppress a smirk behind the Wolver helmet.

Kozma's strong sixth sense bugged her that someone was watching her. She looked up, her eyes leaving the book, only to fix on Daxen's, who seemed to be in a daze on her. She blushed a little, feeling her blood rushing through her cheeks.

"Um guys, I think you should read this…"Kozma said, tearing her eyes away from Daxen's stare towards the group in general. Daxen snapped back from his daze, walking up to Kozma to hear what she had to say. Everybody did the same. Kozma opening her mouth to share what she had just learnt when her eyes looked up to see several comets plummeting through the sky.