Chapter XXVII: On the Road
Absolution Arc
Coordinates unspecified
Unknown time, January 7, 2715
"So, is this what we have recovered from the Belt?"
"Yes, my Lord. Our recon team didn't find much out there after we lost contact." A Crimson Veil agent stood at attention after rolling in some carts. "That and we couldn't risk losing valuable agents to the Belt."
Presented before the agent and member of the Cyphers was the twisted and burnt remains of the Archwings that were in the Belt. There was nothing recognizable left of the mechanical wings. Alongside the wreckage was a body, charred and unrecognizable. A machine caught the body in its entangled embrace, its symbiotic tendrils latched on. Rasps echoed in the air.
"Leave us, Crow. You have done well to recover them."
The Crow bowed before the Cypher and left the room, door slamming with a thunderous boom. The Cypher stared at the wreckage, stood from his throne and stepped into the dim light. Menacing armor adorned his body, cast in the shadows and forged in Darkness. His boots emphasized the status he held onto, inducing fear and absolute authority among the Dark Knights. His face was covered up to his nose, and tattered cape just as powerful in rank. He drank in the sight of the scrap metal, the idea that such a resilient piece of equipment broke so easily a foreign one. He expected a better design for it, one without fault, prototype or not. Either the designers didn't consider the possible damages, or they failed to focus on what was to be expected from it.
The rasping from the body caught his attention and his gaze faced the body. The skin, charred and bubbly from whatever they went through showed the ugliest it can be. However, a few strands of ashy hair stood out from the burnt locks and so too were a pair of Darkness-infused eyes.
"So, you failed to apprehend Sparda," the Cypher scowled, venom seeping through his teeth. "I expected better from you. Much better from the best Archwing pilot from the Academy. And yet, you lost your focus and let the mines get you."
"Ffff…plleease…"
"Forgive me, what was that?" Dark cosmic energy surged across the Cypher's arm. "Was that a plea for mercy, Lyssa? Begging for your life when you failed a direct order from me? Pathetic."
Lyssa squirmed on the trolley, only for the harnesses around her wrists and ankles to rattle and chatter with chains. She begged and pleaded with her panic, moaning and crying. The Cypher pressed two fingers against her charred forehead. Her body, in response, violently shuddered and screamed through parched lips.
"This is the price for your failure, Lyssa." The Cypher's hand covered her eyes in an iron grip. As the energy engulfed her face, tendrils of the dark power latched onto her like a parasite. Her pleas grew desperate, so desperate that the machines went haywire. Two heartbeats flew in a rapid tempo, in sync.
He watched as the untouched bits of flesh turned pale as the cosmos, Lyssa's spasming unfazing him. Failure is something he never tolerated, not now, not ever. Whatever health was left in the Dark Knight was dying out. At this point, she was gasping for air as the blood drained from her face. And yet, the Cypher didn't care. His grip only tightened further on her face and the energy drained more.
A long tone finished the job and Lyssa's body laid limp on the table. Her body, now a husk of what it was, froze her pain for eternity. As the power infected her corpse, her body decayed, devoured by an invisible beast. All that remained of her body were burn marks and a cosmic paste seeping through her pores.
"Such a disappointment…" the Cypher unplugged the life machine and turned it off. "What to do now that Sparda is on the loose…"
He sat on his throne again, palm open. An orb of supernatural blue flame came to be, burning bright as the sun. The plots that came to his head turned the cogs of his scheming. Time could go on and on as he plotted. If he wanted so. Traitors of this scale? How he had a plan for him, and his Kazoku too... It was simply a matter of time.
-Destiny: Skyfall-
I thought of them again. Rose hadn't revealed her true identity to Reaper yet, but Lightning found out the hard way. Honestly, I'm surprised she hadn't said anything about killing me for keeping Rose a secret. Maybe she's just saving it for later when I come back. I felt Reaper's sorrow when she felt useless to protect my daughter. It wasn't her fault, really. She did the best she could, that's all that mattered. I'd be more grateful if she brought Rose back alive than do nothing. But…something was seriously amiss. I couldn't pinpoint what exactly, but I feel it. Call it Pendragon intuition.
It took me a while to open my eyes in the darkness and when I did, my sight was bloodshot. The pain came back to me like a bitch and I rolled to my side, assessing the damage from the fall. So far, nothing major broke or injured. Even I was surprised that my collar bone hasn't shattered yet. As I slid upwards against the cavern walls for support, the atmosphere down here was different. The Darkness was stronger down here. It was more than enough to suffocate down here from the meager amount of oxygen and I don't think that even my oxygen tank could last long enough for this ordeal. Man, it would've been nice if Primus was here right now to fix my tank…
Path to the Light stuck out of the rubble like a sword in the stone and I collected it again, then checked the integrity. Still exceptional as usual. I snapped my fingers for a light source, hoping the flames would be decent down here. It sparked a few times before it ignited, so that the problem can be assessed. Cave tunnel, rubble from the islands blocking one of the paths, and probably thirty feet below from the stone isles. Pain shot up my side and my hand immediately clutched the source. My head faced my hip and I saw a blood splatter. Shit… Looks like an impalement from a stray stalactite and even a tiny bit of it stuck out.
I didn't bring any first aid, talk about double fucked. What choice do I have left? As such, I bit down on my tongue. Hard. Reluctantly, my hand wrapped around the rock with a good grip. Breathe in, breathe out… And then it was done. The stalactite was out and I kept my bite down even if it fucking hurt. What my armor did to close the wound wasn't enough, even if it administered painkillers and covered it up thanks to the nanotechnology.
"Fuck…!" My body leaned against the cavern wall after that self-surgery. "I'm not doing that again…"
The air was different now. It isn't as suffocating as before. Either the Darkness is messing with my head or I found a pocket of air from the outside. My tendrils came to life and lunged at the blocked path. Some slapped the rubble out of the way, and others turned it to dust. My eyes squinted from the burst of light that came through the once standing rubble. The light was as warm as I remember it, from all the times the Guardians revived me. The tendrils vanished once they were exposed to the light and I pushed forward. What came next, I did not expect. It can't be. Can it?
The moment I lowered my arm from my face sent chills down my spine, even if there was a warm atmosphere. A gentle breeze swept through, familiar to my past as it carried the pollenated scent of flowers. Red petals scattered across the winds and culminated at my feet. It was the field where I grew up.
From mere muscle memory, my body crossed the field to approach the lone tree dead center. It was still in bloom as I last remember seeing it, the leaves dancing among the pollen. My hand brushed against the bark as soon as I was near it. The bark is just as ancient, hard with wrinkles on its once youthful surface. Unnatural grooves graced my fingers and so too did the Light. Melancholy and nostalgia mixed into a bittersweet feeling the more my fingers followed the grooves. Even as the Light enveloped me in its embrace, there was nothing on the other side. Light emerged from a crack in the tree trunk and a finger brushed over it.
"Why is Light coming from here…?"
"This field is a strange one, Nero."
I turned around, the thought of drawing my sword out of mind.
"Dad?"
Dad stood before the tree, his helmet off and cradled under his arm. His gaze was focused on the tree, almost in a nostalgic way. My hand moved away from the hilt. A small smirk was on his lips.
"Two generations of Pendragons, one field. You'd think it's a part of us, wouldn't you think?"
I grew skeptical of this. If it was really dad, then he should be able to enlighten me with some wisdom. Time to see if he is the real one. "Is it really you, dad?"
Dad scoffed. "Even if the Darkness tried, it can't mimic me," he approached me and patted my shoulder. "Unfortunately, I'm trapped in limbo. I can't go to the Light or the Darkness; my choices grabbed their attention and fought over me. Still are. So, I kept out of their radar."
Limbo, huh? I guess that is why the sorrows he held took form in the Afterlife. Now that begs the question. Is this place really the same as the Afterlife or is it a projection?
"I'm dead again, aren't I?"
"No. You're in limbo with me, call it a meditative plane."
Whether or not I should take this with a grain of salt rang in my head. "So why is there Light coming from the tree?"
"Not everything appears to be as it seems, Nero," his helmet disappeared into his armor. "There were shards that splintered off from the Traveler, scattered across Earth and the system. Most of them brought life, others corrupted it. This is one of those shards that returned beauty to the dirt it once was."
"So, the tree itself is a shard of the Traveler."
Dad nodded. "And it always drew me here, whether it be from the Light or the life it breathed, I do not know myself. Like moths to a flame."
The tension inside me let loose. As I turned to glance at the tree, part of me set fire and I dropped to my knees. It grew unbearable to the point my body curled up into a fetal position. My heart hammered against my chest and drove me crazy with how fast it went. Something was crawling up my skin through my bloodstream and veins.
"Must fight it…" I spoke through agonizing teeth.
A war raged on inside me, the Light and Darkness fighting against the parasitic invader. Their war brought me pain beyond anything I felt before. Not even the impalement earlier could amount to this. My body shook violently, twitching and squirming. Everything burned with every move I made, even my own breathing.
"I got you, Nero," Dad restrained me and did something. I don't know what he did, but the war within settled down for my victory. In time, my body settled down enough and I gasped for air. "You're running out of time. At best, you have days. Weeks, even."
"I know, dad." I supported myself against the tree and glanced at him ashamed. "I can't keep lying to myself that I'm fine. Sooner or later, I'll hurt the people I love."
Dad knelt before me and pressed his fingers against my forehead. "You've persevered for this long when others couldn't. But it won't last forever, Nero. The Taken is growing stronger, a seed that may not be able to be uprooted in time."
Truth be told, dad is right. Even I'm aware that I can't resist the Taken forever. But I need to be stronger, I lost to the Stalker already… I can't lose again. What good was it to lose again when you were at the top of your game?
My breath quivered with each breath. "So, what are you saying?"
"You have to hurry, tell the Conclave everything."
"But…my training…" I whispered. I still don't know how to effectively use the Darkness, that's why I came here. The Light was easier since it guided me.
"Training for the Darkness is meaningless, Nero." he argued. "Remember: we don't treat the Darkness like the Light. It wants to be dominant and make you its puppet. We treat it as an ally, the part of us that would take the risks we wouldn't normally make. A river's current we can't fight but join. In time, you will learn it on your own. But for now, focus on saving the ones you love."
The Light from the tree soothed my pain as though it eradicated the Taken from me. Even the numbness from my wound faded to nothing in due time. It was as though Vesper was massaging me after I went through a lot of cramps from the missions, and that was on a daily basis.
"You set up this rite of passage for me, right?"
"And your sister if she faltered. As it seems, she hasn't faltered yet." He folded his arms and sat next to me. "She picked herself up just fine, and when it wasn't enough, you were there. And for that, I'm proud of you."
All I could do was nod. Right as I stood up, I checked the sword's hilt. The next gem turned orange as fire. That's it? I expected a fight or something to happen, anything. If this was all it took to get the next gem, then I'm disappointed. Dad stood up and stared at the white sky, almost like something bothered him.
"I guess time's up. I must send you back, Nero."
I stood up and to my amazement, my body rejuvenated from all that training. No problem getting either. The shard really did do more than I thought of it previously. Before I saw it coming, everything faded away, even the field. The tree twisted and contorted, now formed into a marble arch. The Light never left my presence at all, and it wasn't emulated either. A shard of the Traveler… What was it doing here of all places? It didn't make sense for a piece of the Light to be in a place full of Darkness. It should've been choked out, but it didn't.
Perhaps there is still hope left in me.
A/N: I sincerely apologize for this update. Like last time, these last few months have been one hell of a rollercoaster for me emotionally and in my life. College, graduating from high school, the list can go on. Also, I will be honest with you: I feel burned out with this. I'm not sure if I can finish this one, but until the decision has been made, I will leave that in limbo and I'll try to work on this story. I hope you understand, readers.
-Link234521
