Chapter 10: Vol.1/ Chapter 8: Interlude [ARK]

Chapter Eight

 

Interlude 2 [ARK]

 

Siren Island

  Siren Island was large enough to be considered a small country. Although the main reason it had not been inhabited, before the arrival of Nevermore, was due to its status. The island had been considered in ancient legends as an evanescent island. A magical place that appeared and disappeared at will. A land of fables and magical creatures, populated by exotic fauna and magical plants that could provide all kinds of properties. Throughout the centuries it had dozens of names and was already known in the time of Ptolemy. That, however, was in the past.

  Even nowadays it was still considered an evanescent island. But instead of magic and legends, today the explanation was found in a much more scientific environment.

  The island was located in a vortex with a spatial distortion that caused it to appear at will. A sort of isolated space that moved between two different universes.

  It took Nevermore's technical staff years to find a way to stabilize the island so that it would become the place it is today.

  By the time the Great War was over, the island with its various locations was more than ready to be inhabited. Moreover, over the years parts of the place had been changed to accommodate the needs of the Nevermore Institute. And one of those places was the island's subterranean archive ark.

  Which was the exact place where Kotori was at that moment.

  The disk, on which Kotori was riding, levitated several centimeters above the ground and with its slight humming sound broke the stony silence of the vast and long corridor in which she was passing.

  To her left and right were located the huge black server blocks, placed side by side, that stored the digital data from one of Nevermore's archive arks. It was a cold place and the only illumination at the moment came from the small horizontal lights of the blocks, which were located every few centimeters. The site was several kilometers long, with hundreds of rows, which for someone who had never been to the site could easily be lost for days.

  But that was not the case for Kotori, she was already used to the huge place. Although it was true that the first time she was there, she was lost for almost a couple of hours until someone came to look for her. But it had been five years since then, and now she knew almost every part of the island like the back of her hand.

  Kotori crossed her arms and snorted a little worriedly as her blue eyes scanned the place.

  She was a head taller than Mai, about almost the same height as Lizbeth and a bit more delicate in build, but slender at the same time. She had her black hair on her left side tied in a braid, and she wore a formal black executive dress, along with high over-the-knee boots, albeit with the distinct cyberpunk design that some of the SID members used to wear as work clothes.

 

  She was not part of the team of SID agents, her job was much more administrative in the division. But due to some problems that occurred months ago, after Shin joined, she was also in charge of the administration of the cases Shin covered, becoming almost his personal assistant. Although it was not a difficult task, she only had to make sure that he filled out the investigation reports correctly, as it was something he had never done before.
  

  Still, due to her nervous and shy personality, Kotori was the type of girl who brought her emotions to work, with which she couldn't help but sometimes worry too much about those who were not only her co-workers, but also her friends.

  "Rein… are you around?" she asked in a low tone.
  

  A couple of minutes passed as she continued to wade through the huge rows of servers.

  "Rein! Are you here?!!!" she asked raising her voice a little.

  "What?!"

  "Whaaa!"

  The subdued voice of a fey girl came a score of meters behind Kotori and made her startle. From between the blocks a girl came out and looked at her in surprise.

  Rein was short in stature with rather short shoulder-length blonde hair, though slightly wavy. She was wearing a one-piece dress and a long black jacket. But if there was one thing that stood out about her, more than her pointed ears, it was her blue eyes with a vertical pupil and the small red horns on her forehead peeking out from between her abundant bangs. That, and a dark reptilian tail peeking out from under her jacket, which wagged back and forth, completed the picture that Rein was a special kind of fey.

  She was not only a fey with strange characteristics, she was also the current director of the Archive Section, Director of the Library and of the special section of Strange Books. In the past Rein was SID's first director of operations, a position she held until the early years of the New Era when Mai had accepted the position.

 

  Rein could not deny it, she loved her current position. She had always been a bookworm, or rather, in her case, a book dragon. Reading and spending her days with the librarians in peace suited her much better than going around the world researching. Still, she had all the qualifications to be a special agent and still held on to her Special Agent 0016 number with a great deal of pride, even though she herself did not think she would be returning to active duty anytime soon.

  For the time being, books would remain her thing.

  "You could have called me with the NW. What happened?" asked Rein.

  Kotori stepped off the silver disk that carried her, and walked toward Rein with slightly hesitant steps.

  "I wasn't sure if you were with something important… "

  "I'm just looking for a couple of things that aren't in the library files."

  "Mai just sent some weird pictures to the Astana station, but she also sent them on letterhead over here for you to look at. Aria is busy, so she sent them to me."

  "Show me," Rein said.

  Kotori sent the pictures straight into Rein's mind and she began to watch as the images of the strange animals carved in the forest appeared. Rein furrowed her brow in concern.

  "This is about the cult, isn't it?" Rein asked.

  "Mai thinks she might be related," Kotori said.

  Rein sighed in sorrow.

  "The cult…"

  She could hardly remember how many decades they had been after them.

  The mysterious cult that called themselves "The Star Worshippers" appeared after the Great War, although there was clear evidence that it was some kind of strange cult that had been around for centuries. The SID were never able to capture any of its direct members, only clues, and encounters with other groups that had a certain connection, but never anything concrete. The Star Worshippers, due to Nevermore's clear insistence to bring them to justice for the bloody and macabre nature of their crimes, had also taken the initiative and on more than one occasion had caught some of the agents and made them suffer a fate even worse than death.

  The reason for Nevermore's insistence, and in particular Mai's crusade against the mysterious and bloodthirsty group, were several, but mainly two. Feys were the favorite prey of its members, although in recent decades they had expanded their menu to humans as well. The second reason was the hunt they had been giving to the Division agents, and more particularly to a case that affected Mai's mind.

  Rein bit her lower lip. It certainly made her stomach churn to remember every time they had encountered them and the number of agents they had lost to them and their strange rituals.

  Kotori looked at her worriedly.

  "Mai is obsessed with them."

  Rein looked back at her. Deep inside she had certain doubts about Kotori and her relationship with Mai, Lizbeth and Shin. Kotori was a girl who cared about things almost as much as Tony and the last thing Rein wanted was to make her feel bad.

  "You know the story of what happened to Mai?"

  "About what happened 70 years ago? Yes."

  "Then I guess you understand why Mai is obsessed with them. Not only does her fear of the sea come from them, but also the reason why she didn't want to be in a relationship with anyone for years. But it worries me to think what will happen when she actually meets them face to face. I mean, we don't think they're Feys, although I don't think the qualification humans would be enough for these bastards either."

  "Th-They eat people."

  "At least as part of one of their rituals. The belief that consuming the flesh of a creature that has been to the Other Side grants eternal life and abilities has been spinning around for years. Sadly, it's not entirely untrue, though."

  A shiver ran down Kotori's spine, as she recalled the archival images she had seen of other cases. Rein realized that the conversation was becoming more depressing and tried to deflect the topic.

  "Anyway, this engraving they found caught my attention."

  "Which one?"

  "The one with the vulture pecking at its chest."

  "It's a vulture?"

  "Well, it comes from Egyptian symbolism, then later it was associated with the pelican, which drank its own blood to feed its chicks. It's clearly reminiscent of that. But it's been used in different ways, sometimes a vulture, sometimes a pelican, sometimes a goose and it was used in alchemy too and with religious functions others."

  "Huh… " Kotori nodded.

  "I don't know why anyone would put it here, though. Unless it's a signature of some group. I think you'd better ask Naomi about this one."

  "Signature of some group?"

  "Yes… the Rozenkreutz used this symbol for a long time also as a way of recognizing each other among family members, but that was many centuries ago. Before the Great Exile of the 19th century. I think the meaning they gave it was something like writing history with the blood of the fathers so that the blood of the children would not be spilled."

  "The Rozenkreutz family disappeared in the year 30 right? There is no one left alive?"

  "No. Franz Rackhenhell, the child, was the only survivor of the attack. And it is to this day he is the heir of the Rozenkreutz pharmaceuticals, since he cut ties with his own family."

  " What a family… and me complaining about when my father gave me a hard time about joining Nevermore."

  "Vampires have their problems too," Rein said with a wistful smile and added. "And I really like that you stayed with us once you were done with your treatment, even though your family didn't want you to."

  "I like it here, you guys are my family too," Kotori said with a smile.

  "… " Rein looked at her with sparkling eyes, as if she was a mother watching her daughter grow up.

  "What's wrong?" asked Kotori with a nervous look.

  "Are you sure you don't want to come to my section? I'd love to have you around."

  "I have enough work as it is… " she refused, smiling.

  "You're very good. Shin's not giving you any trouble, is he?"

  "No, not at all," she said blushing, "he's good and so are Mai and Liz."

  Rein looked suspiciously at the sudden reddening of her cheeks. She couldn't deny that she was dying to know what had happened between the four of them during the Christmas break, where everything had ended with a party, but she judged that whatever had happened must have been personal. Since then, Kotori was much closer to those three.

  "So they're good… hmm."

  "…"

  Kotori's redness was reaching her ears.

  "Did something happen on Christmas night?"

  Kotori was red as a tomato.

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  Something did happen then, thought Rein sweating.

  "N-No, n-no, n-nothing happened. It's not what you imagine."

  "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It seems it's very personal…"

  "It was my mistake, I-I came in at the wrong time that's all. They were busy… "

  "Whatever happened between the four of you, don't let it go over your heads. A lot of us were pretty drunk that day. Myself included, I ended up participating in a bot battle against Skuolfi and Alexia."

  Kotori's face was reaching near boiling point and looked like she was going to cry at any moment.

  "It was just one night…"

  I'm going to have to pull the ears of those three when they come this way.

  "It wasn't their fault. B-but it didn't p-pass-nothing like what you ima-imagine. I-I fell asleep in their bed, th-that's all. I just interrupted them… " said Kotori, as she looked away suspiciously.

  "In their bed or with them too?"

  "P-p-please p-p-please don't tell a-anyone!" Kotori begged tearfully to Rein, while shaking her by the shoulders as if she were a milkshake. "We promised, that it was going to be a secret and that it wasn't going to happen again!"

 

  So, they spent the night together that day… I figured. I haven't lost my knack for digging up information, Rein thought as she was shaken. Or maybe it was just that Kotori was too good to lie to her.

  "Easy girl, I'm not going to say anything."

  "Thank you," Kotori said, with a tired voice and a dry tone, it seemed as if her soul was escaping in those moments.

  "I-I think you should send those files to Naomi… "

  "Yes… I'm going to do that…"

  Kotori slowly walked back to the disk with sad steps.

  I think I've gone overboard.

  "Kotori…"

  "Huh?"

  "Seriously don't worry, my lips are sealed. And on the other hand… if it happens again… as long as it doesn't affect the work, it shouldn't be a problem."

  "Really?" Kotori asked, with a serious face, but Rein was almost certain that her eyes were glowing dangerously at that moment."

  "Eh?"

  These four need urgent therapy, Rein thought.

 

  "It's really no problem if it doesn't affect our work?"

  "… No… probably."

  I don't know why but I think I screwed up, Rein thought.

  In Rein's eyes she had always thought Kotori was a shy and nervous girl. But apparently she wasn't as innocent as she had judged her to be.

  Guys sorry, I think I may have added a new problem to your relationship.

  "I appreciate the advice. I'm going to go back upstairs and call Naomi to see if she's available to consult with about the engravings."

  "It wasn't an advice…" said Rein quietly.

  Rein watched worriedly as Kotori rode away on the disk down the long corridor, and sighed as the young woman disappeared from sight.

 

  "Two feys, an alien and a human..."

 

  Though she didn't have much time to continue to preoccupy herself with her thoughts about the true nature of the strange relationship of her colleagues and friends.

  A call from Tony was coming in and snapped her out of her musings.

  "Tony. What happened?"

  [I just got a report of a strange sighting in Edinburgh.]

  It was odd for Tony to call her about something so simple. Sightings of strange things were occurring everywhere and at all hours. There was something odd in his tone, which made Rein feel that it must be something quite different from usual.

  "What is it this time?"

  [A huge black creature with red eyes and wings like a moth's.]

  "… " Rein put on a serious face. It was a short description, but she knew what Tony was referring to and it didn't augur anything good.

  [You know what I mean?]

  "Yeah… it's been a while since we've had a report. Is it from a reliable source?"

  [Police traffic drones and a couple of civilian sightings. The civilians are already receiving treatment, they were told they were suffering from a Neurowire glitch.]

  "Are you going to alert the local authorities?"

  [I already did. If only as a precaution. Cardiff Station has been alerted as well.]

  "I hope we don't have a tragedy on our hands."

  [Philip, Zi and Thor are quite close. I've already alerted them as well, just in case we need them.]

  "A mothman, huh?"

  [I've been going through the files, we have no reported sightings of any kind of these creatures in Edinburgh. At least that we are aware of, I checked with the SIGN agency as well and they are alerted too].
  
  "Yeah, that can't be good."

  [Let's hope it's just a sporadic sighting].

  "I've had the suspicion for quite some time, and Oxy thinks the same thing, that it's because of the sightings that things happen."

  [The observer theory?]

  "Yes, maybe if they were ignored nothing would happen, although we can't be sure of that either."

  [How can you ignore a sighting when there are thousands of cameras around?]

  "Yeah, I know," sighed Rein.

  [Still, you know what worries me?]

  "The shadow people? Have there been any reports of them too?"

  [No. Not yet. But they almost always show up when there's a mothman around too].

  "Have you told Mai and Shin?"

  [No, they're busy with Kazakhstan.]

  "Shin is the biggest expert there is on these creatures, he probably knows more about them than anyone else. He's been tracking them for decades in the 20th century and he was there during the Point Pleasant incident. This would be of great interest to both of them. After all that creature has appeared a couple of times in front of Mai too."

  [We can't disturb them, they're working undercover technically.]

  "Yes, I know. Mai sent pictures of the place. There's certainly something weird going on there too."

  [We can only hope it's nothing serious, neither Kazakhstan nor Edinburgh.]

  "I hope so."

  [I just wanted to warn you, I know you've always been interested in this creature.]

  "Who wouldn't? It's a harbinger."

  [I'll call you if anything else happens.]

  "Thanks Tony."

  Rein cut the communication feeling a twinge in her stomach.

  That creature also appeared several days before she arrived on earth. It was during an earthquake in Argentina, in the year 1985 of the Ancient Era, and she was captured almost instantly by the military. It wasn't until days later that Shin, Van and Leon were able to rescue her.

  Was it possible that it was the arrival of some kind of fey with special abilities? Or there was the even worse possibility that it was some new type of natural disaster generated by the Dark Events?

  No matter how she looked at it, both possibilities were frightening.

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