Chapter 129: Book 2-22.1: Secrets

The fields were on fire. Acrid smoke rose from the hornets’ bodies, rising straight up until it pooled just underneath the dome. Some of the trees had caught fire, too, their sap boiled and burst the bark, aiding in the combustion.

Amiri revelled in the flames. It called to her, caressed her skin like a lover’s touch. It whispered to her. Grow us. Burn. Consume. Lightning danced in the smoke clouds, touching down amidst the woods. Amiri’s hands raised, her eyes drinking in the hellish scene.

“Ahhh!” she sighed.

“Reign it in, you Chaos-touched maniac!” Balliol yelled from a few paces away.

“Huh?” Amiri grunted. “What?”

“They’re all dead. Reign it in before you burn our only source of food that doesn’t come from something disgusting!”

“Oh, yeah, sure. But it’s so pretty…”

“Amiri!” Virgil yelled.

“Oh, alright…” she grumbled.

She raised her hands in front of her and called the flames to gather. She channelled her Animus to her Facet producing a fire-lotus seed. From there, her Animus filtered into the seed, making it grow and bloom into a flower. It hovered above her palm, detaching from the root and stem which dissipated into motes of light. It turned and swivelled, as though touched by an ethereal breeze. Only Amiri could feel it but her mind expanded with the lotus, touching the flames around her, stretching out for a dozen paces away.

“Come,” she murmured.

The burning matter hissed and bubbled as the tongues of fire darted to the lotus, taking the heat with it. It swirled around the petals, condensing into dew. When her immediate vicinity was clear, she strolled towards another burning zone and called the flames to her lotus. A few minutes later, she’d collected all the flames and dissipated the heat. The lotus wilted, dropping petals until it was nought but a seed again.

Amiri popped it into her mouth and swallowed, feeling the energy transition from her belly to her Anima and from there, into her core, refilling her Animus reserves to the brim.

“Urp!”

“Chaos, Amiri.” Balliol shook his head. “You lost control there. Look.”

The land was charred for at least a couple dozen paces around her. The only reason the fire didn’t spread further was that it only blazed to such a high heat when it was near her. Still, most of the hornet bodies had turned to ash.

“What…what came over me?” Amiri scratched the back of her head. The sudden urge to burn everything down just came, and well, she flung her flames far and wide. It was a good thing they were defending via quadrants and not the usual battle lines. “Must be ‘cause I haven’t been home in a long time...”

“Alright there?” Sarra asked when Amiri and Balliol came back. “I got a bit worried when the trees caught fire.”

“Lightning?” Craig muttered while staring up at the sky. The smoke from Amiri’s flames gave a clear idea how high the dome was from where they were. It was about one thousand three hundred paces, give or take a couple of hundred. The smoke cloud spread across the dome and slowly dissipated with the wind. Streamers of lightning lit it up briefly before it spread out too thin.

“I didn’t think the firecloud could do that,” Amiri muttered.

“Well, now that the way’s clear, let’s go,” Virgil said.

“Aye.”

Amiri walked in a daze. Figuring out where to go had always been Centurion Virgil Davar’s job back in Vagaris and it was the same now. Admittedly, worrying about destroying the enemy and burning them to ashes was her sole purpose in the battle group. Her lineage came from a long line of pyromaniacs. The Cypher line split off from the Himono Clan about five generations ago, though from what Amiri’s father had said, they were fortunate to keep their distance from that insular clan. Still, the Himono were far better masters of fire than the Cypher line. They actually had a Knight Dominus amongst their ranks while the Cyphers barely had a Knight Captain, the honour belonging to Amiri’s great grandmother.

Well, with the Chaos seed and the Ennoia inside it, Amiri felt like she had touched something at the edge of her comprehension. It was right there, just slightly out of reach yet it could have been on the far side of the Empire as far as she was concerned. Balliol thought that he had lucked out when the Ennoia turned out to be based on the winds but the wind touched everything.

There it was! She just caught a glimpse of it. Just a little more and she would understand! If the wind touched everything, then fire…?

“I see something!” Virgil yelled and with his voice went Amiri’s enlightenment. “What?” Virgil asked when she glared at him with such fury that he stepped back.

“Nothing,” Amiri growled, “it turned out to be nothing because you couldn’t keep your yap shut!”

“Huh?”

Amiri shook her head, taking several deep breaths. “Swarm fodder, I felt like I was on the edge of enlightenment there. Sorry, Virg, but it’s your fault that I lost it.”

“What, how would I know that? And you’re supposed to be keeping watch, not keeping your head in the clouds!”

“No, no, I’m with her,” Balliol interrupted. “Chaos knows how many times you interrupted my meditations and enlightenment back in the Rose’s Thorn.”

“He’s just happy Amiri isn’t railing him,” Craig hissed but in a loud enough voice that everyone heard. Balliol flushed and glared while Virgil rolled his eyes. Sarra chuckled.

“Don’t worry, you’ll find it eventually.”

“I’d hope so. I don’t want to remain a Knight the rest of my life,” Amiri grumbled.

“Relax, the more you think about it, the less likely you’ll remember. Think about something else and it’ll eventually come back to you.”

“Right. So,” Amiri drew the word out, “what did you find that you had to squeal like a little baby boy?”

Virgil wisely ignored the crack and pointed to their left. “I saw a structure over there. Two longstrides.”

Amiri and the others nodded. They changed their direction, slowly making their way across what must be an enormous greenhouse--what else could it be? Outside, it was deathly cold but in here, it was wonderfully warm. Hostile creatures aside, Amiri couldn’t stand living on just bread and rations for long. Nice sizzling meat dripping with juices would be nice, or maybe a crispy crunchy skin dipped in spiced vinegar. Baked or roasted, deep-fried or even served rare, would do.

“You’re drooling,” Balliol said drily.

“Why are you staring at my face?”

“I have to know if the crazy pops out and I should run,” he deadpanned.

“Hmmph!”

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It wasn’t long before the structure Virgil saw came within sight. It was a dome made out of white seamless stone, four or five paces at its highest point. They circled around it, finding no entrances. Virgil walked up to it and pressed his palm against the surface and as with the outer wall, as soon as he removed his hand, a doorway had opened, revealing a small unlit chamber inside. Virgil stepped through without any hesitation. This time, the door didn’t close.

Glancing at each other, Amiri and Sarra entered in quick succession, immediately followed by Craig and Balliol. The door still didn’t close. There was a panel on the wall right beside the door. Amiri only noticed it when Virgil pushed past her. Its outline glowed with bioluminescent light.

The overhead light panels turned on, shedding cold white light. The interior was smaller than Amiri expected, barely enough room for all of them to stretch inside. It was also completely empty.

“I suppose we could use this place to set up camp.” Craig glanced around them. “It’s a rather secure location.”

“It is.”

Virgil and Sarra, the stodgiest pair in the group, agreed in unison. Virgil tapped the control panel again to open the door, except that wasn’t what happened.

Amiri felt her stomach rise up to her throat and she felt light as a feather when the floor abruptly dropped. The illusion was broken the next moment when it stopped accelerating downwards, though the cursing started up instead.

“Burning Moon! What did you do, Davar!” Balliol squeaked.

“I...nothing, I just pressed to open the door! See?” He palmed the panel again and the floor stopped. The door didn’t open though.  “What the…?”

Several panels outlined with a dim purple light appeared around the one Virgil pressed, each with a strange symbol in the middle. It reminded Amiri of runescript but she didn’t recognise any of them.

“These are...?” Sarra came up to the wall while Virgil gave her some room. Sarra jabbed her palm on a panel with a whirly symbol. The floor, well, chamber, started falling again.

“Whoa!” Amiri gasped.

“Sit down, Cypher, before you hurt yourself,” Balliol smirked.

“Yeah, yeah, not everyone’s built like a rock like you,” Amiri snorted. She sat down cross-legged on the floor.

The chamber kept moving for a few minutes then stopped with a jolt. The door in front of Sarra opened with a whoosh, revealing a hallway nearly identical to the one they entered the ruin in. Well, if things were working like this, then maybe it shouldn’t be called a ruin.

Balliol took point with Virgil and Amiri in the middle, Sarra behind her and Craig just behind Ballsy. They followed the corridor and with the lights turning on after every fifty pace segment, it was hard to look at the darkness in the distance. Eventually, the corridor widened into a proper hall, with doors along the sides, clearly marked this time, with a wooden door frame and doorknobs.

By mutual agreement, they went for the nearest one, and Balliol conjured a shield while Virgil gingerly touched the knob. When nothing happened, he twisted it open and pushed. The door swung open with a loud creak. The room inside was dark, but Virgil had apparently adjusted his Enhanced Senses.

“Antechamber. Another door at the end. No, just an opening, not a door.”

He stepped inside and the panel on the ceiling shed light. He moved to the other side, through the opening and his sharp inhalation sent Amiri running up to him. The lights in the chamber beyond lit up as well perfectly illuminating the racks and shelves. There were dozens of swords and spears but they weren’t made out of steel.

The five of them piled in, and Amiri rushed up to a sword displayed on the shelf. It was a single-handed blade, an arming sword, that was about thirty inches long. The metal it was made from was a strange golden alloy. It wasn’t bronze, Amiri was sure. She picked it up, grunting at the unexpected weight. It was heavier than her side-blade by at least half as much. There was a sheath beside it, made of brown leather and capped with the same alloy.

“Pretty,” she murmured.

“What are these things made of?” Craig muttered while he rubbed a spearhead with his fingers. He tested the edge and his eyebrows rose. “It’s razor-sharp.”

There was a layer of dust on Amiri’s blade which she wiped off with her fingers. It wasn’t as thick as she expected though.

“Well, this is mine now!” she proclaimed.

“Hrrmm, I wonder if these are artefacts.” Sarra studied the nearest one. “Doesn’t feel like it. But, well, these are made to human proportions, these aren’t steel. Who were they made for, then? Who lived in these ruins and since they’re empty, why?”

“Where do you think we can find the answers to those questions?” Craig asked.

“Maybe deeper in the ruins,” Sarra smiled. Her eyes glowed yellow with her Animus and she channelled it into the weapon she was holding, another arming sword. “Oh!”

“What?” All four of them asked.

“Try channelling your Animus into these things.”

Amiri frowned but did as asked. She drew from her reserves and threaded it down to her fingers. The arming sword drew in her Animus as though it was parched and a moment later, flames burst out from the crossguard all the way to the tip of the blade. The flames were the exact same shade as her fire-lotus and Amiri could feel the same connection she had with the sword as with her lotus. In fact…

She let go of the handle and the arming sword floated in front of her, a string of red Animus connecting the pommel to her palm. With a thought, she sent it careening at the wall, stopping it before it could hit the stone. She twisted her wrist, and the sword turned as if she was still holding it. She called it back to her hand when she felt some of her Animus drain away.

“Fascinating,” Sarra said.

“Huh, look.”

Virgil held a short spear in hand and when he channelled his Animus into it, the speartip shot out a purple-hued wedge. It impacted the wall, leaving a small white mark on it.

“Ancient Animatech?” Balliol hazarded a guess. “But where is the runescript?”

He was right. The weapon she held looked nothing more than a regular sword, save for its golden hue.

“You think this is enough to fulfil our bargain?” Virgil asked Sarra.

The other woman shrugged, “I don’t think these are artefacts despite how old they may seem. But from the look of these, they seem to be common weapons.”

“You think all the rooms out in the hall have more weapons like these?” Virgil asked incredulously.

“Well, this seems like an armoury, and no fortress or castle will only have one room. Not when it’s as big as this one.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Amiri blurted out. “Let’s go!”

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