CHAPTER 17: UNLEASH THE TITANS

The Underworld was a massive labyrinth for anyone stumbling in for the first time. Even some of the newer employees would avoid the Underworld unless they were escorted by an older coworker; there were a few cases of people getting lost and having to get rescued hours later. Herald made that mistake years ago when he was fresh, and although he knew his way now, he never went into the Underworld if he wasn't ordered to go. This place gave him the creeps—yet now Herald was walking through the corridors with no hesitation.

Ortho floated silently a few feet behind him, making sure he wouldn't be detected. He didn't know why he felt so suspicious of Herald when the two were always on friendly terms—perhaps it was a gut instinct of sorts.

Herald stepped inside a large mechanical vehicle with rotating discs as wheels. These were Chariots, the go-to transportation around and inside the Isle of Woe. As he started the Chariot, Ortho ducked underneath the vehicle and hung onto the back so he wouldn't be spotted. Herald didn't notice this, and as he activated the Chariot, he and Ortho descended down to the inner layers of the Underworld.

It seemed like an eternity, countless levels of caged Phantoms passing by, until Herald finally landed the Chariot on some old rocky ground. He disembarked and quickly went down a long flight of stairs, going all the way down to the bottom of the Underworld… to Tartarus.

Ortho let go of the Chariot and watched Herald go down the stairs. What was he doing down here? Tartarus was home of the largest, strongest, and nastiest Phantoms in the world. They were called the Titans, named after the monstrous beasts of legend. Tartarus was locked up with all types of magics and technologies to keep them in their cage, and there was no way Herald could access them. Only blood members of the Shroud family had the ability to open that door—even Ortho couldn't do it.

Just as Ortho was ready to go down the stairs, he got a message from above. He touched his temple, and his eyes flashed. "Hello?"

"Ortho?" The woman's voice was panicked. "This is Athena. Have you seen anyone unusual recently?"

"Unusual?" Ortho looked back. "I'm following Herald Herman down to the depths of the Underworld. I find his behavior unusual. Why…?"

"That's not possible," Athena went on. "Herald is up here in Styx. He's badly injured and his ID is gone. We think someone stole his identification—whoever you're following can't be him."

"You think this is an imposter?" Ortho asked. "…Understood. I will apprehend this person and return Herald Herman's ID card."

"We can help you, Ortho. We've tried getting in touch with the director, but he won't respond. If you—"

"Idia is sleeping. Don't wake him," Ortho warned. "I don't want him to be more stressed than he already is. I'm taking care of this myself. Over and out."

"Ortho—"

Ortho cut his communication and flew down the stairs to Tartarus. It seemed his 'gut instinct', or whatever humans would call this feeling, was correct.

The door that held the Titans was enormous and circular, with two jagged sides that touched at the middle with not even a molecule's breadth between them. Herald—or rather, his imposter—was on his knees, trying to pry the two halves of the door open by putting some device in the middle. Upon closer inspection, it was a silvery key with a skull on top.

"Boy, this is a tough door…" the imposter muttered. "Couldn't even open from afar… whatever enchantments are on this are stronger than my Key…"

"Stop where you are!" Ortho ordered. His arm became a small laser cannon.

The imposter stopped and got to his feet, raising his hands in surrender. "Ortho!" he cried. "Please listen, I can explain, I—"

"Step away from Tartarus!" Ortho cried furiously. He would have blasted this thief right then and there, but he didn't want to possibly disrupt the door or its surroundings any further.

The imposter complied, quickly stepping back to the edges of the door. Ortho inspected Tartarus and found that the doors' halves were parted by the tiniest possible amount. Only a single strand of hair could pass through, but nothing bigger. Still, any exposure to the Titans was dangerous, and Ortho noted that Idia needed to close the gap as soon as possible.

"You're not Herald Herman," Ortho continued, cannon still aimed at the fake researcher. "The real Herald Herman is up in Styx, injured with his ID missing. You attacked him and stole his ID to open Tartarus, correct?!"

"Ah… you're a sharp one," the imposter said, and suddenly melted away in a splash of blot.

What emerged was a tall, pale young man with dark hair. He wore a black suit that covered him completely from neck to toe, contrasted with a large white cape that encircled his slender form. Large golden claws jutted out from the gloves where fingers should be. The cape had a clockface on the front with its hands stuck up. A similar clockface served as the man's left eye, only this one was red and had its hands circling around at a steady pace. The rest of his features were even, but his human eye was pitch-black and soulless.

He was a Phantom… of sorts. Ortho analyzed him in a second, and the results were mixed—this person had blot to spare, but also human DNA. Even with all the data of Styx under his belt, Ortho had never seen a Phantom like this before.

"What are you?" Ortho asked. "What is that… key in your hands?"

"Call me Minuet," the man said quickly. "And this," he flickered his eye towards his key, "is mine."

"That doesn't answer anything," Ortho said. "There are no reports of a Phantom escaping imprisonment, and there's no known data about you. So you're not from Styx. How did you get here…?" He stared at the strange key. It gave off a powerful yet unknown aura, and it made Ortho feel uneasy somehow.

"Don't think of me as an enemy," Minuet pleaded. "I am a Phantom of sorts, it's true. But I've come down here to help you, Ortho. Or rather… the original Ortho."

"What…?" If Ortho had blood, it would run cold. "What do you know about that?!"

"Being… connected to negativity as I am," Minuet said carefully, "I understand the plights of others. So I want to help. I wish to break the first Ortho free of his imprisonment and unite him with his family. A noble goal, yes?"

Ortho reached out for the strange key, but Minuet pocketed it. A fight would be bad in a place like this, so Ortho put his cannon hand an inch from the intruder's chest.

"Give me that key," Ortho ordered. "And you're coming in with me for questioning! Whoever you are, or whatever the reason, you cannot—"

Ortho…? A voice echoed in his mind, eerily similar to his own.

Ortho suddenly dropped his cannon hand. "Huh…?"

It's me. Ortho 1.0. You must be Ortho 2.0. Nice to meet you!

Ortho gazed at Tartarus. With the seal broken by the smallest possible amount, it allowed one of the prisoners to reach out to his counterpart. Ortho himself had never been in Tartarus, but he was told about it. Only told not to look for it.

"Did you know about the original Ortho?" Minuet asked.

"I have his memories," Ortho confessed quietly. "He died in a Phantom attack years ago. Idia didn't give me that memory, of course, and he never told me the details. I didn't know that 1.0 was here…"

I want to see Idia. I want to see my parents. I want to see the world… and so do my friends.

A strange feeling washed over Ortho. His suspicions of Minuet, his concerns about Idia, his worries about the Phantoms, his questions, his reasoning… it all slipped away. It felt as if he and the other Ortho were one. He relaxed, and turned his small cannon back into an arm.

"I see you're more willing to listen," Minuet said with relief. "You see, my boy, the Phantoms are not mindless monsters like you've been told. We can be peaceful just like humans and other creatures. If Phantoms were free in Twisted Wonderland… what a wonderful world that would be."

If Phantoms were all over the world, there would always be blot to consume, said Ortho 1.0. Idia and the other Shrouds could go wherever they wanted without worrying about the curse.

"A world full of Phantoms… a world that Idia and I could explore together…" Ortho's yellow eyes lost their pupils.

"The problem is, my Skeleton Key isn't strong enough to break the seal," Minuet's voice was sugary and patronizing. Something that Ortho would've bristled at if he was in control. "We'll need someone else's help to set all the Phantoms free. Do you know someone like that, Ortho?"

"Idia can do it," Ortho said at once. "I'll get him to help out… and then we'll reset the world!"

A hard reboot to make the world better, 1.0 echoed.

"Excellent! I see you're in good hands," Minuet said cheerfully. "I'll be off then. Best of luck to you!"

He held up his Skeleton Key and caused it to glow. A wooden door appeared alongside the wall, and he waltzed through it, with the door dissolving behind him.

That was close, Minuet-Hand thought to himself. Good thing the real Ortho was on my side… if it came to a fight between me and that robot, it would've gotten ugly…

He smirked, showing rows of sharklike teeth. But now the illustrious Shroud family is going to destroy the world! Twisted Wonderland and all its reverence of villains will be obliterated! Let's see that sappy granddaughter of mine try to weasel her way out of this one!