21. SOLO JOURNEY


Violet took another week to prepare, and then she was sitting at a table in an empty room with Eadie opposite her. Their hands were resting on the surface, both of them nervous but Eadie more so. Violet took a deep breath and once more scoured the castle with her mind. No lifeforces were around or seemed to be moving toward their location. With added training she might be able to maintain this awareness while having a conversation, but she just didn't have it in her to wait that long. When Violet opened her eyes she refocused them on Eadie's expectant stare.

"We're fine."

"Martel is probably still polishing the suits of armour on the third floor corridor…" He was relieved. Martel was the head of all the cleaning servants, he'd clearly shown he was scared of her.

"Helghast leaves in one hour, he's going to his factory for three days on business." Violet recited and Eadie nodded along like he was scared he might forget a part of their plan. "Once he's gone I'll go through which of the three portals is safest, at the moment it looks like the one leading to Mr Chandra and Ms Hart's rocky biome. At least I'll have an idea of what to expect."

"And I just have to stand out in the hall and keep watch," Eadie kept up with his nodding.

"Yes, just until I'm gone. Then all you have to do is vouch for me. Empty out the meal trays they leave outside my door. Don't get caught. Tell anyone who asks that you just saw me, let them all think they keep missing me in the halls but that I'm still here."

"What about the guards?"

He'd already forgotten, Violet stayed calm while reminding him: "I faked a bad ankle sprain for a few days off. That's why I've been walking with a limp today, remember?"

"Right," Eadie recalled at once and was nodding once more. "And what happens if you get caught?"

"Then it's up to me to think on my feet."

"What if it's Helghast that catches you?"

"Then I'm busted and he realises I'm a sneak. But there's no reason for this to have to fall on you. Just take deep breaths, and carry on your day like normal. Don't let anyone think something's up."

"Alright… yes…" Eadie started taking deep breaths.

"Okay," Violet continued in her soothing voice for him, "All we got to do now is wait."

After a while, Violet mentally saw Helghast's lifeforce light up the blur of his portal, merge with it then disappear, the portal then dimmed again as it automatically deactivated after use. They were standing by the door. Once sure he was gone Violet pushed outside and together they walked quickly down the halls. No need to pretend to be casual so long as Violet could stop at each corner, close her eyes for a few seconds and know where everyone was, then continue along.

They found the right room and Eadie stood timidly in the hall. Violet approached the unguarded machine and took a readying breath. She'd practised activating the portals a few times before and at best it drained half her excess lifeforce. That had nothing to do with the transporter, since Violet wasn't powering it but essentially flicking a switch. It had everything to do with her rookie mage status. She wanted to be able to shoot some lightning if she had to, so she did her best to focus to minimise the wastage.

Slowly, Violet raised her arm and the turquoise vapour seeped out and into the vented box. It was as mentally complicated as picking a lock, but she was getting better. In a few minutes the machine was on and the portal was twisting with kaleidescopic purple spirals. Violet felt a burst of elation - she'd not wasted much energy at all - but it was quickly tapered down by the seriousness of the task ahead of her. She faced back and gave Eadie a thumbs up which he returned. Then she donned her hood and walked into the swirls.

A dizzy distortion made her whole being sway like she was made of jelly. Her mind fritzed and skidded away from her, like static through an hourglass. Then she felt her very self was gone too, reassembling and then stepping out into a new world.

Felson. She supposed she'd use Mr Chandra's name for it.

It took a moment for her vision to return and she was happy to see nobody in sight. It could've led right to an administration desk, or a customs security or even a grand stage before a crowd of workers. Instead she was in a somewhat secluded area in a rocky mountain biome. Around her were a few pruned trees that didn't naturally grow here, and there was a wide touch screen the size of a whiteboard that probably held lots of information Violet wouldn't be able to access. Like a map. She walked to it and looked aside worriedly - she was outdoors and staring down from amidst a mountain range. There was no dirt, mostly stone and she could see patches of gravel, granite and andesite. She could also see coal veins so it seemed like mining wasn't done in this area.

Violet looked at the screen, which was humming a dull blue. She poked it and it flickered to life: a rectangle asked for identification via handprint.

"This would be so much easier with a map…"

Violet knew then that she was very nervous. She only spoke aloud to herself in such cases in an attempt of self-soothing.

There was no map. She'd have to do her best to not get lost; if someone saw her maybe she wouldn't be bothered? She started walking the trail in front of her, then climbed up the mountain to get a better view and decide where she should go.

She also began to ponder: The prison facility was bound to have security, could she talk to a prisoner without having to go through guards? It would depend on the building. This being a mostly empty world, the jails may only need to be designed to keep the individuals in their cells, and not be concerned about a big population from wherein a group could break in from the outside. For that reason all the buildings might be rudimentary.

At the highest point Violet felt like she was exposing herself. She was just a few feet from the very tip with a knee bent against the slope. She could see a mine cart track to the south and after turning three-sixty degrees she could see two simple block buildings as well, one close and the other further. Violet deliberated before going on foot to the farthest building.

She was indecisive about what route to take. If she was following a trail she was more likely to be seen, but if she was seen making her way up and down the rocky mountains she'd look more suspicious, right? At any rate no trails were easy to see. Violet crouched as she made her descent, the building was no longer in sight, and she skitted loose rocks with her feet. Somehow she'd still not seen anyone, no distant workers. Were they all underground?

It took her almost half-an-hour to make it on foot. If there were two buildings, surely one belonged to Mr Chandra's staff and the other was Ms Hart's prison? Things couldn't be that simple, could they? She could see the top of the building as she made her climb. Security might be less important than shelter from the weather, but there was no way she was finding anything without going in.

Still no guards, and nobody around.

Unbelievably, she made it to the front door which was just open. There were people noises coming from inside, and Violet decided to simply muster her courage, walk right on it and talk to whoever it was.

The inside resembled a clerical space. There were desks, some glass panels in the walls, tube lights overhead powered by a redstone circuit. Everything looked somewhat cheap, or like it'd been hastily assembled. Violet went to the main desk and the girl working there didn't look up until Violet came to a stop directly in front of her.

"Can I help you?"

The second after she said it she registered the cloak and hood. Her eyes narrowed a little but it didn't look like warning alarms were going off in her head.

"Hi, I'm a new transfer here," Violet tried.

"Where are you assigned?"

"The prison, the one run by Ms Hart."

Her eyes dipped down, taking in Violet's attire again, "You're part of the prison guard? Where's your armour?"

Violet bit her lip then said, "You know… it's heavy. I took it off."

"Ms Hart won't like that. You better put it back on or she'll have your head." The girl then twisted a bit in her chair, thrown by another confusion, "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm lost."

"Lost?"

"Yeah," Violet said, and started to think she was just a couple more odd comments away from being the red flag she was trying not to be. "Don't suppose you have a map here?"

"I think we do. I'll grab one for you." She got up and started rifling through filing cabinets at the back end of the room.

Keep her talking, and not thinking about how weird this is.

"So… how long have you worked here?"

"Oh about a year and a half."

"And you like it?"

"Sure."

Violet rattled her brain for more to say, "Is Ms Hart as bad as they say?"

"Well, that depends on what they say. Ah, here it is." The helpful receptionist girl came back and handed Violet a map with a customer-service smile, not trying to completely hide her mild vexation.

"They say she's mean." Violet said dumbly.

"That'd be right then, yes."

Violet nodded. She was suddenly a bag of nerves, this subtlety business was going terribly and this girl still wasn't suspicious. Confused, but not suspicious.

She tilted her head, "Anything else I can help you with?"

"I'm good. Thanks for this."

Violet tried to salvage her performance with a convincing smile instead of a feeble one. The girl went back to her work, which actually looked like a leisure book she was reading on top of work documents. Violet glanced back at the door and caught the girl shaking her head.

As Violet walked out she felt like kicking herself, but as she forced the urge away there was some excitement over the fact her plan was kind of coming together. She looked at the map. The buildings were spread out, the one labelled 'detainment centre' was further north, looked to be an hour's walk if she avoided the trails again. Why were the buildings so far apart? Violet sighed and went around. She hesitated when she saw the start of a winding trail, maybe everyone rode horses or used vehicles of some kind? Violet went down the slope instead, skidding along a lifeless terrain of grey with the occasional patches of other rocky materials.

It wasn't very hot in this biome, but she was sweating when she did make the climb to the next building. And she'd stubbed her toe. But she'd gained some confidence so wasn't as worried when a diamond-armoured guard stopped and stared down at her.

"Whatcha walk that way for?" he said rudely.

"Exercise."

He mumbled something and went inside. Violet followed after him and when she entered it was a gloomier set up than the last building. The lighting was sickly, the clerical feel was less friendly - a penitentiary. Violet saw a guard seated at the end of the hall and figured she'd try walking past him, but when she turned the corner he called out: "Oi!"

Violet turned back to him.

"Can I help you?" Also kind of rude.

Violet decided she might as well, "I work for Helghast, I'm here to see the prisoners."

He sat back in his chair a bit but didn't seem convinced, "Why?"

She mentally latched onto the memory of Helghast saying practicing her lightning against living targets was a good idea.

"I… need to check their potential. For my magic training."

"...You just wait here alright, while I go get Ms Hart." He was standing and held his hand out for her to stay, then he disappeared through the door behind him.

Violet immediately closed her eyes and focused. She could see various lifeforces and the dull edges of the rooms they occupied. Walls were mostly invisible, but lifeforce seemed to radiate a bit and bounce off whatever it came in contact with, allowing her to somewhat see them anyway. She could feel a concentration of people spaced regularly apart at the opposite end of this building, and she could see their radiating lights moving around bars. Violet continued down the hall, making her way toward them.

Violet passed guards and tried to act normal. They stared at her and she just smiled and nodded, continuing along. They didn't nod back but they didn't stop her. It was unbelievable but she supposed that if nobody other than Helghast could work the portals, there was nowhere for rulebreakers to go and so no reason for one to attempt this. Violet was absurdly lucky.

She pushed through a door into a stone room full of bars. It smelled terrible - faeces. Inside were mostly haggard testificates but she saw a human crouching at the far end. She looked back and appeared her sword, then lodged it under the handle so nobody could get in easily. The prisoners started looking at her then. Violet walked quickly to the bearded man. He was leaning against the wall of his cell, huddled in a ball. His long grey hair and beard was matted, face wrinkled like an old leather coat. He blinked at her like she might be a hallucination.

Violet crouched at the bars, "Listen to me, I don't have much time. I want to stop Helghast and liberate the testificates in his worlds. I need help."

His response was to cackle, the noise loud and echoing in the space. The other prisoners were leaning against their bars now.

"Please," Violet tried cutting off his laughter before it alerted the guards. "You'll help me, right? What are you in here for?"

"...I was a thief before he hired me. That didn't change." His voice was raspy.

Violet wished she had water on her. She appeared half a loaf of bread Eadie had taken from the kitchen and tossed it through. The man gobbled a few mouthfuls but then clutched his stomach in pain, it had probably shrunk in here. He saw her pitying gaze and grimaced.

"These conditions aren't actually much worse than the miners anyhow…"

Violet considered that before getting to her next point.

"So you stole from Helghast? Alright, how do I send a message out from these worlds so the coordinates don't get lost? If I just expose his main world he might be able to wipe the data on all his transporters. Please."

"Well…" his head lolled lazily to the side, "What are you thinking?"

"A rebellion. The testificates can't fight well but if they all acted together we could use a swarm to gain control of the tech command centre, use the equipment to send a traceable message to a populated world, like Arcacia."

He massaged his hairy chin.

"Sounds risky. I know another way - it's an interdimensional piracy technique." Some life was returning to his features and voice. As he explained Violet leaned closer. "Goods get shipped through portals to offworld customers too. Both sides of a portal are linked be hyperdimensional tunnels, and these can be hijacked."

"Like, rerouted?" She couldn't picture it. "Can you do that?"

"I know someone that can."

"Is he here?"

"I came over with him three years ago."

"But… he's not locked up, so he has no reason to help us?" Violet felt her hope draining.

"I can find him if you set me free, and then make him do it."

Violet thought for a moment; she straightened up, looking around at the dulled green eyes of the weary testificates, all of them now staring silently at her.

"Alright. But here's the thing, Helghast has seven worlds. If he is captured, then Enim and the other worlds that are run just by illagers should dissolve. But the ones with human workers will likely continue under new leadership. So I have to send messages out from here, the ice world, and the one with his main factory."

The man was watching Violet while she stood thinking.

"What's your name?" Violet asked him.

"Larry."

"Okay, Larry. If I give you a way to get out of this cell, can you wait twenty-four hours before escaping? If the testificates on the three worlds all rebel at the same time then all of Helghast's forces will have to be divided too, so that betters your chances."

He started to get to his feet, "And how do you suppose I rally them?"

"They already well outnumber all the humans, right? They might be clumsy fighters, but all they're lacking is imagination. They just need a leader to encourage them. A human could do that."

"Fine… It's not much of a plan, but I'll give it a go."

Violet crept back to the door and wrenched her sword free. She could hear murmurings from outside and knew she couldn't stay long. She hurried back to the man and passed him her sword. Once he grasped it he made it vanish into his own inventory. Violet then looked at the lock on his door, she made purple lightning spark up in her hand and tried to focus it like a welder, only damaging it enough so he'd be able to kick his way out later.

Once she was finished with that she left them behind her, went back out into the corridor and paced along, praying she'd find a back exit. When she did spot one her brisk walk became a run. It looked to be one-way, and she hit a button and it opened outward. She didn't dare go around the building but went straight for the edge, deciding she'd travel around the mountain and try to stay out of sight as much as possible.

It took longer for Violet to make her way back to the portal. The sun had moved. Finally she started to notice others outside in small groups, either building or mining at the surface, some distance away. Her plan to liberate Felson was ultimately rather shoddy, and hinged on that one man Larry making a successful escape and reaching the mines and the testificates. She supposed if he broke out at night he'd have a better chance of success, still it was all very shaky.

Violet wasn't capable of anything else. At the very least she'd tried to do something for the testificates living here, and now she had an idea of what to expect from each world: relatively lax security it seemed. The worlds consisted of many enslaved testificates and a lesser number of human guards that were required to control them through intimidation. Like sheep dogs watching a herd. But this world was solely mining, she couldn't think what to expect, but the ice world and especially the factory was likely to have a bigger militant presence. She might even bump into some of her old guard friends who were sent back home. Maybe they'd even want to help a bit, so long as they didn't know what she was actually planning.

After a tiring climb Violet was back at the portal. She called on her magic and did her best to focus, though it was harder. Still, she got the transporter working relatively quickly and then walked on through, traveling back to Helghast's castle.

Thankfully nobody was dusting the room when she walked back in. Eadie had already cleaned it that morning. Violet used her sensing powers and could detect someone walking down the corridor. She went to the wall and thankfully the transporter lost all signs of being activated before they were close. A few seconds later the guard walked right on by. Violet breathed a sigh of relief. She waited a little longer then walked out of the room and left to go find Eadie.


"You want to go to the ice world now?" Eadie said loudly and Violet had to shush him. They stuck their heads out of their alcove and looked around but the guards in view seemed to be discussing something else.

"I mentioned Helghast to someone and I was seen," Violet explained. "Ms Hart was probably told about me, so they might have already sent a message to Helghast. There's a chance he might already believe it was me. Now's not the time to stop."

Eadie hung his head but nodded.

Violet headed to the barracks to get another sword and later met Eadie outside another room which was at the very end of its corridor. Then hidden, she waited almost twenty minutes for the workers in the hall to move along. They were always cleaning here. Helghast was probably as obsessive about cleanliness as she was, but she couldn't go appreciating a shared quality in someone so morally skewed. When nobody was close enough to potentially overhear, Violet used her magic to activate the portal. Once it was she noticed with satisfaction that she had enough lifeforce leftover to make her return.

For the last journey she might need to eat and sleep before recharging enough to make it. Helghast would be there anyways and that obviously complicated things.

Violet walked into purple and dissassembled, next thing she knew she was stepping out during a blizzard at night.

She'd not bothered to put on another layer of clothes beneath her cloak so the cold and whipping bits of ice immediately chilled her. Her thoughts went to monsters, and instead of being cautious she just ran across the ice toward the entry tunnel of what looked like a giant cybernetic igloo. She realised there was a covering overhead, but it did nothing against the insane winds that made the ice flakes spiral and beat against her.

She reached a blast door that felt bolted shut. She noticed the rectangle touch-screen that wanted Helghast's handprint. Violet cursed and turned her back against the door, shrivelling against the cold. She tried squinting through the storm at her surroundings. She noticed a tall fence sectioned off the portal, and outside were other buildings that mercifully looked closer than they'd been on the other world. They were vague shapes in the grey. Violet's teeth were chattering, lips and fingers turning blue. She ran for the fence and clutched its iron bars. Her skin stuck to them so she channelled magic through her hands and they heated and unstuck; she started pulling herself up.

Even before her training with the illagers, her frequent manual tasks meant she was physically stronger than her slim physique implied. Violet stopped three-quarters of the way up, stunned by the relentless winds that seemed to be blowing through her. Mustering her strength she forced her way up before she could fall back down. She was over, and she slid down before her feet met hard ice once more. The ice was too dry to be slippery, and it was better than deep snow, instead a thin layer was blowing across in uneven piles. No monsters still, which likely meant anti-spawning magic was protecting the sites. Violet was finding it hard to think and breathe at this point; she turned around, straining her eyes again to see shelter.

Tall lamps beside buildings shone through the blur. Violet ran towards one. The wind was strong enough to almost send her reeling, but she made it to another blast door. She hammered against it but it was locked. There was a window and Violet scraped away the ice with fingers she could no longer feel with. She tried peering through and it was black. The next building was twenty yards away but she felt like she'd drop before making it over. Bloody hell.

The door hissed then, and unbolted. Violet turned at once and heaved it open. She squeezed through and let it close behind her. Now free from the wind she sank to her butt, blowing on her fingers so they wouldn't fall off. She was panting and tired, bits of frost was stuck to her face. She leaned her head back.

A light was on and she heard muttering. When Violet opened her eyes again it was to a crowd of testificates standing in identical white jumpsuits with numbers on them. They blinked at her.

"Help…" Violet managed, feeling an almost overwhelming urge to sleep that might be dangerous.

They came and helped her to stand then led her over to a space heater in the center of their home. Around the circular walls were over a dozen jutting beds. Around the heater was a ring of blankets. They helped Violet sit and covered her. She was handed bread and then a hot drink of tea. She clutched the mug in shaking hands and drank, the orange heat radiated out and warmed her. It took about five minutes until she could speak.

"Th-thank you."

"What were you doing out in the storm?" One of them asked.

"...I g-guess I should explain from the s-start," she took another big drink and felt the tea burn on its way down, but it spread much-needed warmth throughout her. "I come from another world, but I was captured by Helghast. I found out how to use his private portals, so I'm here to free everyone he enslaved and then free myself."

They all stared at each other, unsure of what to make of that.

Violet continued, "I've already been to his rocky world. Now I'm here, and then there's just the world with his factory. If I can convince everyone to revolt then you guys won't be stuck here with another human who'll take over this operation."

"How could we revolt?" The same man asked, his eyes wide.

"If it comes to a fight, there's more of you than them. But maybe after they find out Helghast's main world has been compromised, if you all stand in solidarity, they'll just let you go..."

Violet couldn't be the human they may need to lead them, but her job couldn't be to just plant the seed of an idea and leave either. For starters, there's no way she'd muster the focus to activate the portal in this blizzard. While it provided nice cover, she wouldn't be able to return to Helghast's castle until it died down.

Violet stared at the villagers around her and saw that as the moment dragged on they looked more on board with her freedom plan. While things on Felson had been easy, on Beira the situation was the opposite. But even if she failed, at least she'd tried? Helghast might be the villain, but it wasn't like he was the only one enslaving villagers, so freeing all those in his primary worlds was the bigger priority.


。。。


【AN: Okay it's the weekend! First weekend of the new uni year and with some luck the story will get finished!】