Kiara followed Calli and Amelia as they referred to the map. She looked over their shoulders at the few dozen spots marked for investigation. Each and every one of them was potentially a cult hideout, assuming Amelia knew what she was talking about. Based on how many of those potential hideouts were crossed out, it was safe to say that she did.
They were on a roll today. And that was saying something considering their pace the last few days. Having just finished their third raid they were on to their fourth.
"So, did these bases have big, flashing signs in the future?" Kiara asked, picking pieces of plaster out of her hair.
Amelia shrugged, "Uhh, no? Why would they?"
Calli turned and flicked away a few pieces that Kiara missed. "You have to admit, it's a lot. That map is practically soaked in ink with how many specific locations you marked. How did you know about them, let alone remember all of them?"
"I know it's hard to visualize, but these aren't businesses or utilities in the future. They're empty husks, just like all the other buildings." Amelia reached back and used the map to wipe away still more debris. "That being said, people still live here. We have communities and we communicate. All these places I circled are known to be hives of monster activity. They're places to avoid in a world where one wrong step could be your last. Remembering them is a matter of survival."
Calli chewed on that for a moment before nodding, "Fair enough."
"Speaking of survival, we should grab a bite to eat before we get to the next hideout," Kiara said. They'd been at this for hours now, and she was starting to get a little peckish.
But Calli shook her head, "The next place is right there, Kiara. You can wait a little longer." She pointed, drawing Kiara's eyes to a building at the end of the block.
It was a tall one this time. Mirror-like windows stretched up and up for a good twenty stories. It looked like the main office of a corporate behemoth. Kiara craned her neck as they stopped at the entrance. The view from the top floor would be breathtaking.
A series of muffled crashes brought her back down to the ground floor. "You don't suppose they're under renovation?" she said.
"That would be nice," Calli said, her scythe appearing in her hand. She started for the door and Kiara followed, taking her sword and shield in hand. Amelia brought up the rear. They pushed through the doors expecting a fight.
Which they didn't get. Instead, they found a small waiting room. There was a desk for reception and a few chairs bolted to the floor along one wall, but the room was otherwise completely barren. The only notable feature was a door just behind the reception desk. Notable because it was hanging off its hinges.
More crashing filtered through the waiting room from the doorway, so they followed it. It became apparent that there had been a struggle as soon as they passed by the busted door and into the hall beyond. Entire sections of wall were pitted and smashed as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Ceiling tiles littered the floor wherever the linoleum wasn't shattered. Most damning of all, though, were the splashes of purplish blood surrounding a descending staircase deeper in.
Whenever the cult's monsters were cut, they never bled. It was only when their flesh was pulverized–as with Amelia's bullets–that they shed this fluid that resembled blood. But even then, the bullet wounds they'd seen had only squeezed out a few drops. These splashes looked like someone was trying to paint the walls.
"I don't like this," Calli said as they descended. "Did the cultists here already turn and go on a rampage?" It was definitely possible. Transformed cultists tended towards blind destruction. They'd even destroyed the shrine on their own a few hideouts back.
"If they did, then it could be infighting. The people in charge of these places strike me as the overly ambitious type," Amelia said. That made sense, even if it was a little sad.
It seemed even more likely as they reached the bottom. As with the previous hideouts, this one held a complicated maze of sharp hallways. The only difference here was the path of gaping holes running straight through the middle strewn with bits of monster.
It was almost comical how they'd never thought to do the same. Kiara chuckled, "Call me crazy, but couldn't there be someone else out there trying to tear down the cult?
"You're crazy," Calli and Amelia said in unison.
Kiara clicked her tongue. She'd been joking . . . mostly. "It happened once already, so why not again?"
"Our meeting was an anomaly in every sense of the word," Amelia said as Calli led them through the trivialized maze. "I only knew where to look because I'm from the future. How many other cult hunters have you guys encountered, like, at all?"
"Not many," Calli answered flatly as she stepped around a wriggling scrap of monster. Kiara got the impression they were conspiring against her Their pragmatic pessimism was suffocating.
Amelia continued, "So not only are fellow cult hunters few and far between, but we're also in a city that has a cult baked into its foundations. It's so well hidden in plain sight that most of the people living here have no idea what's going on just below the surface. If any of them learned the truth, they'd either be immediately silenced or they would have made a big enough stink that you would have noticed by now."
"I guess you have a point," Kiara grumbled. She would have thought that a time traveler would have a greater sense of romance.
"I'm glad you understand. Everything points towards infighting." Amelia pat Kiara on the shoulder. "I'm not saying this to bring you down. It's a good thing, if true. If the organization collapses under its own weight, then it makes our jobs easier."
Kiara smiled. Amelia might not have an ounce of romance in her, but she empathized well enough.
Calli stopped suddenly, prompting Kiara and Amelia to do the same. The crashing sounds they'd heard up above were much clearer now, and there was much more than crashing going on. Monstrous shrieks echoed through the make-shift corridor along with the wet sounds of flesh being crushed.
There was a voice mixed in as well. It only peaked out over the messy sounds of destruction every so often, but Kiara could clearly hear a woman grunting and growling.
Squirming pieces of monster lining the tunnel became more frequent the further they delved. Whatever was happening here, it wasn't pretty. As the central chamber came into view, a scene unfolded that didn't match up with what Kiara was imagining.
There were so many monsters that the wide, spacious chamber felt cramped. That was shocking enough on its own, but what really threw Kiara for a loop was the young woman in blue with a thick fish's tail leaping across the room, narrowly avoiding the grabbing tentacles of several monsters. This one person was fighting this horde all on her own, and with her bare hands, no less. When a monster managed to reach her, she tore the limb from its body like it was nothing.
It was impressive . . . and a little frightening. Enough to give Calli pause. "What do you guys make of this?" She spoke quietly as they waited just outside of the chamber.
Amelia squinted at the carnage, "I'm . . . not sure. That girl doesn't look like what I would expect from the cult."
"Oh? Then maybe she isn't affiliated with the cult." Kiara smiled at her, laying the smug on thick. She checked her grip and stepped out into the open.
Calli grabbed her arm before she made it two steps. "What are you doing? We don't know if she's friendly yet."
Kiara rolled her eyes. "She's fighting the cult, isn't she?"
"That doesn't mean anything. If Amelia is right and this ends up being a case of infighting, then that girl is still our enemy."
"You know, Calli," Kiara said, trying not to be too harsh, "it really won't kill you to be more trusting." Calli pursed her lips. She looked annoyed, but let go. Kiara turned to Amelia next, cocking an eyebrow. "If you assume everyone is an enemy, you'll find yourself light on allies. There's never a guarantee, but you have to take a chance."
Kiara left them to stew with a wink and started towards the horde of monsters surrounding the woman in blue, and just in time. The monsters swarmed, threatening to overwhelm the lone fighter. Kiara dashed through the crowd, blazing a trail of smoldering tentacles and protected the other woman's back. A quick glance between them resolved any uncertainty. Kiara was there to help. Questions could wait.
Together they beat back the horde of wriggling creatures, but the things just kept coming. In the other hideouts, only the cultists with some measure of authority would transform. This number suggested that most if not all the cultists did. Fighting them was like fighting the ocean; rebuff the waves and the great expanse of water would send them right back.
The piercing crack of a gunshot echoed in the high dome of the chamber, then another. Before Kiara could turn to check, a streak of pink passed in front of her, dicing the monsters there into tiny pieces. Calli drew a jagged pink circle, culling the creatures close by while Amelia dove through a gap in the writhing mass, joining Kiara and the mysterious girl in blue.
With the four of them working in tandem the floor was quickly carpeted in inert monster bits. Kiara returned her weapons to their charm forms and marveled at the carnage. The bodies weren't human, but it still made her a little queasy. If she wasn't completely out of breath, she'd be trying to get out of there right away.
Hands on her knees, she shared a look with Calli. They were definitely thinking the same thing. The cult was producing monsters at a blistering pace, so it could be assumed that the quality would go down. But instead of getting weaker, the things they fought here were just as powerful as the ones they encountered before.
If there had been this many the first time she and Calli encountered the transformation, they might not have made it out alive.
Kiara spared a glance for Amelia and was shocked to see her in fairly good shape. Maybe it was that future-tech lattice bearing the load, or maybe it was the conditioning of living post-apocalypse, but she didn't look winded at all. She was hard at work collecting samples as if this had been an otherwise uneventful raid.
At last, Kiara looked at the mysterious white haired woman. She was shorter than Kiara had thought, barely over half as tall as Kiara herself. The image of an efficient, fierce fighter was gone, replaced by the image of a girl dressed too warmly for the weather. She fanned herself with the overly long sleeves of her hoodie, sweat beading on her cheeks.
With the monsters dealt with, she was the only uncertain element left. Tension tightened its grip on Kiara's chest as the others turned their attention towards her as well. Were they in for a repeat of their first encounter with Amelia?
Just as Kiara thought that, though, the young woman smiled at her, rows of sharp teeth catching the mostly dim light of the chamber. She strode up to Kiara without hesitation, piscine tail swinging with her steps. "That was a close one! Thanks a bunch for helping me out," she said, holding out her hand. It was small and seemed delicate, but this hand had been tearing monsters limb from limb just a few moments ago. "The name's Gura. Nice to meet you!"
The tension in Kiara's chest evaporated and she smiled, taking Gura's hand. "A pleasure. I'm Kiara, and my friends here are Calli and Amelia." She shot them a smug grin, challenging them to hold on to their obnoxious suspicions.
Calli rose to the challenge immediately. "It's, uhh, nice to meet you, Gura," she said with rosy cheeks. "And you're welcome, but we owe you our thanks as well. We would have had a real hard time taking down all those things without you, I think."
"Oh! Then I guess we're even," Gura said. She nodded towards Amelia as well, but the time traveler barely paid her any mind. She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a pair of surprisingly scrawny arms. "Excuse me a sec," she said as she stepped over the myriad monster corpses. She stopped in front of the shrine at the center of the chamber. It was one of the large ones, stretching up towards the peak of the domed ceiling.
Without so much as a warning she dug her fists into the shrine and tore it to pieces. Before Kiara could raise a single question, the thing was completely destroyed.
Gura huffed, kicking at the pile of wood, metal, and plaster, "Man! Nothing here either. What's even the point of these places?" She squatted on the spot, running her fingers through her shoulder length hair.
Kiara approached her, glancing at Calli and Amelia. They all had the same question. "Umm, Gura? What is it that you're looking for, exactly?"
"No clue."
"You . . . don't know?" Amelia asked, finally pulling herself away from the monster corpses.
Gura sighed and poked at the monster bits at her feet. "So, my friend is real sick and I don't know why. It kind of happened all of a sudden, so it was probably something the order did to her." The order? Kiara shared a look with Calli. "I've been raiding these shrines hoping to find a way to heal her. Problem is, I don't even know what I'm looking for."
Calli squatted down next to Gura. In all of the hideouts they'd raided, not a single one had held any information on the organization as a whole. No documents, no computers, and anyone who might have known anything turned into an inhuman creature before they could get anything more than something about ancient ones out of them.
"You said the order?" Calli said, her voice calm, thankfully. "Is that what the cult calls itself?"
"Cult?" Gura laughed. "That's a great way to describe them! A lot less pompous than the Heraldic Order of the Ancient Ones, that's for sure."
Kiara gasped. She couldn't help it. A full name for the organization was way more than she was expecting. Could Gura have managed to interrogate one of the higher-up cultists?
No, that was far too simple an explanation. Everything about Gura, her appearance, strength, and seeming familiarity with the cult made another possibility much more plausible. Kiara noticed Amelia looking at her out of the corner of her eye.
"Why don't you let us help you," Amelia said with a stony expression. "A few new perspectives could help pinpoint the source of your friend's illness."
Kiara didn't like the look in Amelia's eyes, but she had to admit that it was a good idea. "I'm for it," she said, "and even if we can't figure out what's wrong right away, we can help you raid these hideouts until we do."
Gura's tail twitched. She looked up at them, eyes wide. "No kidding? You guys'll really help?" Amelia nodded and Kiara smiled, but Calli was silent. Was she still suspicious after all?
The pink haired reaper sat in silent thought for a few seconds. She looked at the destroyed shrine, the monsters strewn about, and finally to Gura. "Alright, let's do it. But in exchange, you have to tell us everything you know about this order. Whether we cure your friend or not. Deal?"
Gura barreled into Calli, wrapping her arms around her. "You got yourself a deal! We should get back to Ina right away!" She rushed to Amelia and hugged her as well, though Amelia didn't seem too thrilled about it. Kiara, on the other hand, happily returned the embrace when her turn came.
This girl, whoever she was, was willing to trust them. She didn't question their motives at all. It was so refreshing that Kiara couldn't help but get invested in her problem. Even if this thread didn't get them closer to bringing the cult down, she was determined to heal Gura's friend.
+ Shift +
"Okay, slow down," Amelia said as Gura led the group through an empty backstreet. She tried not to be too blown away, but the things she was hearing were just too surreal, even for a time traveler. "I can believe the order built this city, but you're saying you've been with them since construction first started?"
Gura smiled, flashing her razor-sharp teeth. With those chompers and that tail, she really could have been some kind of shark. The design of her hoodie invoked the same image, and the hood itself looked like a shark's head. It reminded Amelia of Carlos and his alligator t-shirt. "Close enough to it! Holiv wasn't much more than a checkpoint back then. Just a single dirt path through the valley with some shacks here and there." She said it as if it wasn't completely baffling.
Amelia shook her head, trying to wrap her head around it. "That must have been, what, a century ago at this point? Give or take a couple decades?"
"Give or take."
"How old are you?" Calli said. She walked with a hand on her head.
Gura cocked an eyebrow, "Didn't you say you were the grim reaper or something? You tell me." Calli just looked more confused. She couldn't do that, apparently.
Kiara laughed along with Gura. She actually seemed to be enjoying this mind bending conversation. "So, Gura, where're you from? I've never seen a person with a tail like that before. Or any tail at all for that matter."
The shark girl–self proclaimed–hesitated. It was only for a moment, and the others didn't seem to notice, but her smile sagged ever so slightly. "Oh, I'm from all over," she finally said. "I spent a long, long time just going where the wind blew me." Kiara accepted that answer with glee, recounting her own travel experiences. Amelia didn't.
Gura definitely dodged the question. She was hiding something. Was she more involved with the order than she was letting on, or could she have another reason to keep her origins secret? Whatever the case, Amelia wasn't going to let her guard down.
This place that Gura had led them to wasn't marked on their map as a potential cult hideout. In the future, it was a badlands, completely uninhabited with most of the structures completely flattened, but it wasn't particularly dangerous. She'd scavenged for scrap in this area plenty of times without running into monsters.
That didn't rule out the possibility of a trap, however.
After making sure they hadn't been followed, Gura led the group down into a spacious storm drain. Amelia's eyes were immediately drawn to the young woman lying in a bundle of ratty sheets. She also noted a pile of empty cans and a conspicuous bundle set on the far side of the drain. She knelt over the sick woman.
So this was Ina. Her skin was clammy. She was feverish, but not so hot as to be concerning. Her cheeks were flushed and she was sweating. Her pulse was irregular and her breathing choppy. She was sick alright. The question was, with what?
"Something's . . . off," Calli said. Her voice echoed in this concrete box.
Amelia turned, covering Ina back up. "Off as in how?"
Calli shook her head, "There's an energy here that just gives me the creeps. Like we're being watched or something." So it was some kind of sixth sense thing. Amelia wondered if she could make a device to detect those sorts of phenomena.
Gura retrieved the mysterious bundle from the far side of the drain. "I bet this is the cause." She unwrapped a book. It was fairly large and its cover was ornate, but Amelia couldn't see anything unusual about it. Calli, on the other hand, recoiled from it.
"What is that?" She held a hand over her mouth as if she just caught a whiff of something rank.
"Ina said it was the tome of the Ancient Ones. She read it during sermons, I think. But she said there was something wrong with it before she collapsed. She said it felt like the void."
The void? Amelia looked at the unconscious woman beside her. She wasn't sure what a void felt like, but she was starting to get a bad feeling.
"Well, I can say it doesn't feel malicious, but I'm willing to bet that whatever is between those pages is causing your friend's illness." Calli grimaced, but she seemed better than she was a second ago.
Kiara walked up to Gura, unaffected by the supposed bad energy. "Have you tried getting rid of it?"
Gura nodded, "That was the first thing I tried. I left it in a dumpster, but the further away we were, the worse Ina's condition got. I thought it might be bad to separate her from it completely, but I didn't want to keep it too close either."
Amelia stood and snatched the book out of Gura's hands. She was confident in her ability to grasp abstract concepts–she had successfully adapted the Rosenthal Principle into a method of time dilation using nothing but research papers, after all–but this was a kind of beast she never imagined she would square up against. Complex scientific theory was one thing. This was magic.
Amelia inspected the tome while the others continued to ask questions, but it was mostly scribbles and crude arcane sketches. It bore a resemblance to the shrines in the hideouts, but she couldn't see how that was significant. Of course the literature of the order would be consistent.
The more interesting comparison was how they differed. Calli said that none of the shrines held any sort of power that she could detect. And though she only saw it the one time, Amelia noted that Gura physically dismantled a shrine looking for something. They weren't anything special at all.
This book was different somehow. Amelia turned it over in her hands. There hadn't been anything like it at any of the hideouts, but she felt like she'd seen it before. Perhaps that was part of its supernatural nature. Or maybe . . .
Either way, its pages did hold power. According to Gura, this book was read despite the nonsensical nature of the text. Ina read it. Why would she be reading this book at a sermon?
"You've been with the order a long time, haven't you Gura?" Amelia said, interrupting whatever the others had been talking about. The shark girl nodded. "What about Ina? She been part of the organization a long time?"
Gura tilted her head, thinking. "Pretty sure she was born into it. So yeah, she's been part of the order her whole life."
"So she rose up the ranks over the years? Got herself a cushy position near the top?"
"Hmm, nah, I wouldn't put it that way. She was selected for the position when she was a kid. That was before I met her."
Amelia's chest felt tight. She knew what the answer would be if she continued down this line of questioning. She asked anyway. "And that position would be . . .?"
"She's the priestess. It was her job to lead the acolytes in prayer and set a good example for them." Gura pointed at herself, "Not that it matters, but my position was as the avatar. I think I was supposed to be a physical representation of the Ancient Ones or something." She laughed, but the sound was drowned out by the ringing in Amelia's ears.
Amelia closed her eyes tight, trying to calm her thundering heart, but all she saw behind her eyelids was that terrible violet light. When she opened her eyes everything looked blurry. Everything except Ina.
She stared at the woman lying on the pile of rags. She couldn't look away.
"Amelia? Are you alright?" Kiara placed a hand on her shoulder. She was worried, Calli too. They knew her story, so they'd probably made the same connection she had.
She ignored them and spoke to Gura, "I don't know much about magic, but I have an idea." She had to be sure it wasn't just a coincidence. "Give her the book."
Gura hesitated. "Is that a good idea? It probably made her sick, right?"
"Most likely, but you said separating her from it made her sickness worse. If we do the opposite, her condition might improve instead." She handed Gura the book and she took it to her unconscious friend.
Gura wrapped Ina's arms around the tome, but nothing happened.
"Open it in her hands," Amelia said, her voice quivering.
Again, Gura hesitated, but did as Amelia said.
Something dark leapt from the pages, billowing out like smoke. A pulse like a distant explosion hit Amelia in the chest. The air felt electrified, but much more dank than before. Was this how Calli felt when Gura first revealed the book?
The miasma coalesced into a dark purple fog and settled around Ina, engulfing her in its power. Gura panicked and dove into the thick smoke. She grabbed Ina and started to pull her out, but then something happened. Her eyes shot open and her whole body tensed up. Then she collapsed too.
Kiara and Calli dove in immediately after. They pulled Gura and Ina out of the fog. Away from the book. The moment they were clear of the miasma it started to recede. Amelia stood by and watched as the scene played out. Her hands shook.
She was sure, now.
Gura came to first. Kiara helped her to her feet, "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked, eyebrows knit with worry.
"Yeah. I think the smoke got to me, is all. I grabbed Ina and everything went red, and then boom, here I am." She tried to play it off, but she was clearly shaken. But she wasn't important right now. Ina was.
Gura stumbled over to her side, asking Calli if she was ok. "I'm not too sure," Calli said, placing her hand on Ina's forehead. "Her fever might be going down, but I can't say for sure."
Gura grabbed Ina's arm and spoke to her softly, "Ina? Are you ok? Please wake up. Ina?"
Ina's eyes fluttered and she groaned. Everyone held their breath as she finally opened her eyes. Gura leapt on top of her, burying her face in her chest. "G-Gura?" Her voice was raspy. She coughed as Calli helped her sit up. "Where are we? Did we get away?" She blinked, clarity returning. She jerked a little when she saw Calli, but Gura reassured her.
"We got away alright!" Gura said, sniffling. "But you got sick and I didn't know what to do so I looked for a way to help and met these guys and they came and helped and now you're okay! You're okay, right?"
Ina smiled. It was a soft, frustrating expression. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks to you, Gura."
The shark girl shot up and wiped her face with her sleeves. "Not just me! Without these guys, I don't think I could have helped you at all." She pointed to everyone in turn. "The tall pink one is Calli, the tall orange one is Kiara, and the not so tall yellow one is–" Amelia's hand moved on its own. "Amelia?" Gura's eyes were wide. So were everyone else's.
Amelia held her gun in a shaky hand. Normally, that would worry her. It was easier to miss with a handgun than most people assumed. But at this distance, she could probably hit her mark even with trembling hands. She stared down the length of the barrel at Ina.
The priestess.
Amelia hadn't been born when the world ended, but everyone knew the priestess was responsible for it. She released the monsters. She devastated cities with that book of hers. She commanded the giant beast that Amelia was fairly sure was Gura.
Kiara tried to talk her down, but Amelia couldn't hear her. It didn't even matter when Gura got between her and her future's tormentor. All she saw was the witch that had caused her and everyone she cared about so much grief.
It was almost laughable. This frail, spindly woman was to destroy the world? She was as human as Amelia herself. A bullet might not kill death, it might not even put down something like Gura, but a person? A regular flesh and blood human being? One bullet is all it would take to prevent the nightmare that Amelia was born into.
It would be so easy. The priestess wasn't even resisting or trying to escape. She was just sitting there, scared out of her mind. All Amelia had to do was squeeze and–
She was afraid. The priestess was afraid. She was just a frightened, fragile human being. Just like Amelia. Just like Carlos. Just like her parents and everyone else she'd ever met and everyone she hadn't.
Déjà vu hit Amelia as a wave of nausea. She'd been here before. Face to face with the priestess, on the precipice between life and death. Except this time, the sickening violet glow was emanating from her own hand.
There's never a guarantee, but you have to take a chance.
Amelia took her finger off the trigger and lowered her weapon. She stepped up to Ina, composing herself. Gura didn't let her past at first, but a firm glance made her intentions clear. Gura sighed and stood aside. Amelia knelt down so that she was level with Ina.
"My name is Amelia Watson," she said. "I know your name, but I want you to tell me anyway."
Ina blinked. "My name is Ina. Ninomae Ina'Nis."
Amelia finally set the gun down. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She stood in the middle of a cramped storm drain amidst all manner of super powerful beings and practically dared them to attack her. And yet they didn't. Not one of them raised a hand against her.
Calli didn't reap her. Kiara didn't burn her to ashes. Gura didn't tear her to pieces. And the priestess . . . Ina probably wasn't even capable of hurting her at this point.
She doubted that they trusted her not to pull the trigger. That would be asking too much. But the fact remained that they let her be.
"I'm sorry for threatening you. I promise I'll explain, but first there's something I need to say." She looked around, making eye contact with everyone. "I came here to change the future. I didn't have a clear plan as to how. I figured everything would just work itself out. That was foolish." She took Ina's hands and squeezed. She had to take the initiative. "I need your help. All of you. This might not mean much to you now, but I'm putting my hopes and dreams in your hands. I'm placing my trust in you."
For what felt like the first time in a while, Amelia smiled. She felt tired and beaten down, but her lips still curved upwards as best they could. It couldn't have been the most flattering expression, but it seemed to put everyone at ease.
Ina, eyes finally relaxed, squeezed Amelia's hands. "I . . . don't know who you are or what any of that means, but thank you . . . I guess."
Calli knelt beside them. "This is probably a lot to wake up to, but we'll do our best to get you up to speed."
+ Shift +
Ina pressed her palms into her eyes and tried to stay calm. She should have been reeling at the revelation that Calli was Death's apprentice–whatever that meant–or that Kiara was a mythical firebird that could never truly die. She should have gawked at Amelia, an actual time traveler, but her amazement and disbelief were smothered by a sickening pit in her stomach.
The future was a ruined mess by her hands, apparently, and all she could see behind her eyelids was the face of Castor Kaygill. That sinister glint in his eyes, that superior smugness, that hunger. Ina should have been doubting the fantastical stories of these strangers, but she could see the lead herald destroying the world for his ambitions. And the order . . .
She had hoped during their flight from the compound to seize it from the heraldry and divert any ill intentions towards something more positive. Perhaps that had been too naive. The order, as an organization, was far larger than the little garden that she'd grown up in. She had faith in the acolytes she knew, but she couldn't speak for the ones she didn't, and their number was certainly far larger. The sheer weight of the order's misdeeds would crush the hopeful people residing in the complex.
The order couldn't be toppled without greater power. Power that she might have access to. "Can I . . ." Ina said, a little sheepish. She didn't want to startle Amelia again. "Can I see the tome, please? I want to confirm something." She could see it sitting on the ground across the drain. She didn't want to say that it was calling to her, but she definitely felt some kind of pull.
Amelia and Calli were clearly hesitant, and why wouldn't they be? That book had been causing all sorts of problems, mostly when it was in Ina's hands. True to their word, though, they gave the go ahead.
Gura brought the tome of the Ancient One's and held it out for Ina to take. She reached out slowly, feeling a tangible force emanating from the pages. It was like the air around it was thicker than it should have been. When her fingers finally touched the aged bindings she felt a jolt. Whatever power was contained within pulsed in Ina's hands. It flowed through her bones and filled her being.
She had to open it. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end at the thought. The others said that the book had expelled some kind of smoke when they'd opened it before. What if that happened again? What if it was worse?
The storm drain let enough light in to see comfortably, but it was dim enough to see the soft violet shimmering on the grimoire's surface. It didn't make her feel cold like it did before, though. The void didn't feel as close. It wasn't gone entirely, but it felt distant enough to maybe make opening the book safe.
Taking a deep breath, Ina opened the grimoire.
And nothing happened.
No smoke. No portal to the void. No assault on her mind by some otherworldly force. It didn't feel hostile at all, actually. If anything, the energy drifting off the pages felt . . . familiar. It was almost like the book was happy to see her, but it was a book. Although, in light of her current company, maybe it wasn't so farfetched.
In response to the tome's beckoning energy, Ina rested her fingertips on the open page. The incoherent text and chaotic sketches were the same as they ever were. Then Ina felt a burst of energy lift off the page. It filled the narrow storm drain, bouncing off the walls, floor, and ceiling before returning to the book. And to Ina. The pulse shot through her like vines growing under her skin.
"What was that?" Kiara said, rubbing her arms.
Ina breathed in sharply. "You felt it too?"
"Of course we felt it," Calli said. "That book might as well have exploded with how much power just filled the air."
"Better than some nasty smoke though, right?" Gura smiled. She looked a little on edge too. The only person who didn't was the time traveler.
Amelia crossed her arms and kept her eyes shut. She wasn't angry, was she?
Ina wasn't sure she could put what she was feeling into words, but she tried to interpret. "I think . . . I might have connected myself to the power in the book. I can feel it, almost like a second heartbeat."
Amelia opened her eyes and stared at Ina. Maybe she wasn't angry, but she definitely didn't seem happy. Eventually, she sighed. "I've felt a pulse like that before. You could feel it vibrating your bones anytime the priestess was near."
"Hey, don't go pulling a gun on her again," Gura said. "You already said you'd trust her, right?"
"I did. And I intend to do so, but that power will destroy the world if left unchecked." Amelia looked back at Ina and a faint smile touched her lips. "Just let me know if you experience any other weird, eldritch happenings, okay?"
Ina scrambled to her feet, nodding furiously. "I will! Count on it!" She wasn't sure the power in the grimoire was so menacing, but she understood Amelia's concern. As a preemptive measure against any more surprises, Ina held the book out to Kiara. "I know it's a lot to ask, but could you hold on to this for now?"
Kiara blinked, but then she smiled. "I'd be happy to," she said. Her tone was so understanding that it made Ina's ears burn. She hefted the tome and looked around the drain. "I'd also be happy to be out of this musty drain."
Calli clapped her hands. "Agreed! Let's get back to our place."
Kiara extended a hand to Ina, so she took it and was led out into the world for what felt like the first time in her whole life.
Ina was, in a word, mesmerized by what she saw as the group traversed the city. The orange light of the setting sun lit up the mirror-like sides of the buildings. The air was crisp, a far cry from the refrigerated air of the complex. The smell wasn't exactly great, but it was real.
The people they passed barely paid her any attention. No bowing or prayers. She was still garbed in her ritual dress, which earned her a few embarrassing glances, but with Amelia's shawl wrapped around her shoulders it was bearable.
After a fair bit of walking, Kiara pointed out a somewhat tall building down the street. It was the very picture of an apartment building as Ina imagined it; red brick broken up by the occasional window and a network of fire escapes down the side.
The inside was a real shock. The halls and staircase leading up to the apartment were narrower than the halls of the compound. The walls were coated in a bumpy plaster and had an unflattering brown stripe painted on them. The door was scuffed, Ina noticed, as Calli whipped out her keys.
Once inside, Kiara offered her a stiff stool to sit on. It wasn't terribly comfortable, but she hardly noticed until she was offered a cushion to soften the seat. There was nothing special about this space, really. It was the sort of apartment that could be found as a backdrop in any sort of fiction. But Ina gawked at it all the same.
"You okay, Ina?" Gura giggled softly from the neighboring stool.
Ina made a conscious effort to close her mouth and smiled. "This place is so . . . I don't know, surreal? It's so similar to the compound, but much more real. Like, it feels like people live here, but not because it was made that way. People actually live here."
"I see what you mean. There wasn't really anything genuine in that place. It was a facade, start to finish." She had a point.
Calli and Kiara stepped out of the small kitchen with a tray of steaming mugs. They handed one each to Ina, Gura, and Amelia, then pulled up their own stools. It was similar to meetings Ina held with the acolytes, except she wasn't being held up on a pedestal.
They spoke to her like an equal. Their questions were a little prying at times, but based on what they'd told her, that was understandable. When she told them about the order, they listened intently, interrupting when they had questions. And she was happy to be interrupted. It was a conversation, not a sermon. How long had it been since anyone other than Gura actually talked with her?
And they were able to laugh. Ina didn't always understand their jokes–and her's received a few groans–but the atmosphere was enough. It was stunning how different little everyday things like a chat could feel outside the compound.
Had she ever been comfortable with the order? She didn't think so. Not anymore. The heralds provided her with all sorts of amenities, but no matter how fluffy the pillows were, they still felt cold and hard. No matter how many smiling faces they surrounded her with, she always felt alone. The food was extravagant to look at, but it was bland. The brightness of the halls deep within the compound looked pale compared to the light of the setting sun.
Ina and Gura had only just met Amelia, Kiara, and Calli, but they already felt like friends. It wasn't that they had anything in common. Quite the opposite, in fact, but Ina felt like she was seeing these people for who they were. They didn't hide their true selves beneath a murky layer of reverence. Even Amelia, who had aimed a gun at her just a short while ago, smiled and laughed with them though her eyes looked tired.
It felt so warm.
They each had their own motivations for helping Ina, but they did help her. It hadn't been long at all, but she thought she could consider them friends already. Did they think so too?
She opened her mouth to ask, but the voice died in her throat. Underneath the pleasant conversation Ina heard a sound. It was hardly there at first, but the more she focused on it, the louder it got. It grew as loud as the voices of the women around her. Louder, even.
A voice. It was chanting something. The words were incomprehensible, but for some reason she was sure they were words. It didn't sound threatening, but it still sent a shiver down her spine.
So she spoke up. "Amelia!" Ina said. She tried to stay calm, but her hands shook. "I'm hearing . . . whispers. There's a voice telling me something, but I don't know exactly what."
Amelia snapped to attention immediately, her expression becoming more severe. "Is there anything else? Are you seeing any out of place colors, for example?"
Ina shook her head, "No, nothing like that. Except . . ."
"Except?" Amelia observed her closely. Her eyes flicked to every little fidget that Ina made. That level of scrutiny was almost as unsettling as the whispers.
"I can't understand the words, but there's an impression of meaning." How was she supposed to explain something she didn't understand herself? There were feelings in the alien words that seemed to pull at her. Not physically, but conceptually. Were they describing something?
Amelia shook her head. "It's alright, Ina," she said. Her tone was much softer than before. "It doesn't have to be a perfect translation. Whatever you can glean is fine."
Ina took a long breath to settle herself. The words were trying to describe something, but it came across more like a picture than words the more closely she listened. She glanced at Kiara, "I think . . . I need the book. I don't know why, but that's the feeling the whispers are giving me. I don't feel any bad intentions, so I'd like to try, if I could."
Amelia and Calli shared a look. Neither of them seemed certain, but Amelia nodded. Kiara retrieved the grimoire and handed it over. She smiled, but Ina could see the worry in her eyes.
Ina laid it in her lap. She still couldn't stop her hands from shaking, but Kiara rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Gura and Amelia did so as well, and Calli followed suit. As she prepared to open the book once again, though, everyone else took a few steps back.
A little bit of caution was probably for the best.
As Ina lifted the cover, the lights in the apartment dimmed. A pulse ripped through the air and Ina's vision darkened further. Then the apartment disappeared completely. It was replaced by a seemingly endless black void.
Warmth immediately fled from her body. Her heart beat so hard it hurt and she couldn't catch her breath. Cold rushed in to replace the warmth and she felt herself start to drift.
She didn't want this. Not again.
She still had the book in her hands. She'd have to rely on it to ground her. She clutched it tightly to her chest and forced her voice out of her throat, "Is anyone still there?! I can't see anything!" Tears stung the corners of her eyes. The void . . . What would she do if she didn't return this time? What would happen to her?! "Please! If you're there, say something! Please!"
We're here, Ina . . .
Ina held her breath. She heard it, Gura's voice calling out to her. It was faint, painfully so, but it was there.
We won't leave your side . . .
Ina squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to pinpoint the source of the voice. Maybe she could find her way out of this empty nightmare. When she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see a light before her. It was so dim as to be nearly imperceptible, but in a void of nothing, it stood out like a beacon.
Slowly, she reached for it. "There's something here," she said. She wasn't entirely sure the others could hear her, but speaking as though they could was comforting. "There's a light. It's faint, but . . ."
Her hand reached the light. She wrapped her fingers around it and it exploded in a blinding flash.
+ Shift +
Ina sat on her stool, mouth agape. Her eyes glowed with a violet light that sent shivers down Amelia's spine. She almost grabbed at her gun when Ina reached out, mumbling about a light. As she closed her fingers around something Amelia couldn't see, a thick cloud of purple smoke erupted from the open book in her lap.
Amelia held her breath as the billowing cloud enveloped her. It was obviously magical, so there was no telling what kind of effect it might have. Her concern proved pointless, however, as the smoke began to clear almost as soon as it filled the room.
She checked on the others and was relieved to find them all still standing. Gura especially, considering how she passed out when this happened before. That relief was replaced by confusion when she looked back to Ina.
She still sat with her arm outstretched, book in lap, but something had changed. Namely, a writhing mass of tentacles had seemingly sprouted from her back.
Ina's eyes dimmed until they were back to normal and she gasped, grasping the room around her. "I'm back? Are you all . . . alright?" Her shoulders tensed, "Did something . . . happen while I was in the void?"
Amelia pointed, unable to find the words to gently describe what she was seeing. Ina turned her head and came face to face with one of her new appendages. Her entire body tensed and she shrieked, curling up on the stool. As if in response to her distress, the tentacles started flailing wildly.
Gura was the first to jump in to subdue the wriggling things. The others followed quickly after, and together the four of them managed to contain the writhing mass.
Ina eventually calmed down and so did the tentacles, giving Amelia a chance to inspect her new friend's transformation.
"Well, how about that?" she mumbled to herself as she stepped back to get a full picture of Ina. It was a shocking sight, but Amelia found herself gaping in amazement. The unholy priestess, feared by all, was awkwardly poking at her tentacles like an unruly head of hair. It was enough to make her laugh.
Ina shot her a sour look. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
"It really isn't that bad," Amelia said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Really. From what I can tell, the tentacles aren't physically attached to you. There appears to be a small portal of sorts situated close to the small of your back. They're coming through that. From where, I don't have a clue."
The others gathered around, inspecting Ina as Amelia explained. Gura grabbed the end of a tentacle and shook it up and down. Ina shivered at the touch.
Amelia smacked her hand away. "This probably goes without saying, but yes, they are real. No illusions or smokescreens here. I couldn't tell you what they're made of, but it isn't of this world. And that isn't even the weirdest part."
Ina grimaced, "It isn't?"
"Not by a long shot." She had everyone stand opposite of Ina, facing her. Then she conducted a little experiment. "Ina, could you raise your hands above your head?"
She did so, raising her arms straight up. The tentacles responded as well, rising up towards the ceiling.
"Okay, now put your left hand down." Once again, the tentacles followed Ina's movements, half of them returning to their neutral position. "Good. Now," Amelia held up one of the mugs, "I want you to close your eyes and reach for this mug. Imagine I'm bringing it closer and handing it to you."
Ina closed her eyes and reached out. Nothing happened at first. Amelia didn't move. After a few moments, though, a tentacle separated from the larger mass and extended out in front of Ina. It snaked through the air, probing for what it, or rather Ina, was searching for. When it reached the mug, Amelia allowed the tentacle to grab hold of it. Slowly and carefully, it retracted, bringing the mug into Ina's waiting hand.
Amelia smiled. It was genuinely fascinating. "You can open your eyes." Ina did so, and was startled to see that Amelia hadn't moved a step closer. "These tentacles aren't a part of your body, but they respond the way a limb would. A slightly autonomous limb, but a limb nonetheless. I conclude that those new accessories of yours are no more a danger to you, or any of us for that matter, than you are to yourself." Assuming history didn't repeat itself.
"That's a relief . . . I suppose." Ina looked at the tentacles, still sour. Gura and Kiara offered her some comfort, which softened her expression. "I'm still worried, though. Isn't this a step towards the priestess that destroyed your future?"
Amelia thought for a second, then she said, "Maybe. But that doesn't worry me as much as you might think." Not only Ina, but the others, too, looked surprised. "There is no doubt that the greatest threats facing the future are here in this room. Ina and Gura become the priestess and the beast respectively as a result of the order's machinations. Some time after that, Calli becomes the terrifying reaper that I'm familiar with." Her eyes flicked to Kiara for a split second. She is likely the cause, but Amelia can't be totally certain, so she kept that theory to herself.
She continued, "My coming back in time allowed your paths to merge before they were supposed to. Before you became those monsters. With that in mind, I believe we can stop you ever becoming those nightmares in the first place."
Gura raised her hand, "How, exactly?"
"By taking down the heraldic order of the ancient ones," Amelia said, resting her hands on her hips
"That should be fairly simple with Gura and Ina with us," Calli said, messing Gura's hair, " We can head straight for the top and cut the head off this snake in one stroke."
Amelia shook her head. "That might not be for the best, actually. There's no guarantee that the hideouts around the city need their head to transform. We should whittle their numbers down first."
"I get what you're saying, but if they're going to transform anyways we could keep them from coordinating effectively by taking out the cult's leadership."
"But the level of destruction those monsters could–"
"Wait! Please," Ina interjected. Her tentacles drooped behind her. Whatever it was she wanted to say, she didn't look eager to say it. "Gura and I are central to the order's ambitions. I'm sure of it. If we just stay away, they shouldn't be able to enact their plans!" She rushed right past optimism and straight into naiveté.
Amelia licked her lips. She anticipated a little pushback, but she'd been working under the assumption that all of her allies were of the same mind. She didn't expect that Ina might have reservations about destroying the order.
"I think it would be wonderful to resolve things without fighting," Kiara said, "but I'm afraid that probably isn't possible here."
"This cult won't just let you go if you're that important," Calli added. "They'll hunt you down and take you back, no matter what stands in their way. We can't afford to hesitate."
Ina clenched her fists, "I understand that, but . . ." She was afraid. Whether she was afraid of the order recapturing her and Gura or if she just didn't want to fight, Amelia wasn't sure. There was so much she didn't know; about this time and about Ina.
So she fell back on what she did know. "You can run. You can live in fear of the monsters that might be hiding around every corner. But if you do, it will be all you ever do. You might escape the order physically, but they will still dictate every step of your life." She tried not to sound like she was pleading, but it was hard not to when she could see this woman in front of her walking the same sad, painful path so many in the future did.
"She's right, Ina," Gura said. "Living a life constantly running from your demons is no life at all. You'd be adrift with no guarantee of ever finding solid ground again." Her voice was level, the wisdom of her years shining through. "I don't want to live like that . . ." There was something there, in her eyes. A pain Amelia couldn't quite parse.
Ina seemed to see it too, but she still hesitated. "But . . . what if we become monsters too?"
Kiara knelt down beside her and took her hand. She smiled, saying, "You won't become a monster because you have us. We've only just come together, but you can rely on Calli, Amelia, Gura, and I. We can carry each other through any hardship. I know it."
A warmth blossomed within Amelia. The words were sentimental beyond belief, but for some reason she did believe. Calli stepped up beside Kiara and rested a hand on her shoulder. The aged wisdom faded from Gura's eyes and she pounced on Ina, embracing her tightly.
The four of them together, resolving to be there for and help each other . . . it was moving. So much so that they seemed to glow. Amelia nearly averted her eyes; it was so bright. She wanted to be a part of that glow. But could she?
She'd already resolved to trust in them, but that was a conscious decision. She still felt apprehensive, deep down. Could she really put her life in their hands? Could she trust herself with theirs? She wanted to believe.
But she didn't. Not fully.
She was afraid too.
They looked at her, standing apart. And yet none of them looked doubtful. She knew there was fear among them, but they embraced each other anyway. Kiara extended a hand to Amelia, and in doing so, extended that radiant warmth out to her.
That light touched her, and before she could reconsider she strode into the embrace of her new friends. She was still afraid, but whatever should happen she chose to trust them.
