Chapter 85 – Shard.

“So how many actually survived the explosion?” Seymor asked as they walked out of the warehouse area and back towards the entrance of the undercity. The remaining sections were still coated in shadows, largely unlit, but dawn had now arrived, the horizon a fiery orange colour, streaks of purply orange clouds painting the sky. “The remaining squads found nothing when they managed to get to the crash site.”

“Too few,” Catlin grumbled back, keeping her eyes in front of her. “Healing was a priority.”

“You got taken to Odinsphere?”

“Yes. That was always the plan. No point in letting a mere explosion and assassination attempt ruin a historic and important meeting. It’s fortunate the incident didn’t spark hostilities between us all.”

“Apart from the cursed,” Seymor stated bluntly.

Tsugua snorted underneath his helmet, Seymor looking startled and looking at what he probably assumed was one of the surviving guards from the ill fated delegation.

“As I said, they’re not caused by Odinsphere,” Catlin retorted. “Something else is behind them.”

“Any idea what or who?”

“Yes,” Catlin answered, but then said nothing further.

Crystal chuckled to herself as the silence stretched on as they walked. Half of the buildings by the entrance were bathed in orange light, one of the groups of guards from earlier having stationed themselves there. They’d be breathing a sigh of relief now that the darkness was retreating. If she recalled correctly, from what they had been told, the shamblers only came out a night, so unless the force behind them suddenly changed the rules, they wouldn’t have to deal with them for a while. Though she suspected that it only applied as a matter of convenience rather than anything else. She couldn’t actually see or think of any factor that would prevent the shamblers from shambling during the day. Bowser had managed it after all. And if said rule applied for the depths of the undercity was an entirely different question, but not one that would cause them any issues.

“Any idea on how the explosion was caused?” Seymor eventually asked as they made their way along the main street of the undercity. “There was a lot of force behind that. We even felt it here. But we don’t have anything nearly that powerful.”

“That’s a rather morbid topic,” Catlin answered. “We lost a good number of people to it. Friends and loved ones of those we have the responsibility to protect.”

That unfortunate truth was that no, they didn’t. Myne had identified that blood magic was involved at the time of the explosion, but that was about the extent of it. What was the source of the explosions and how it had remained hidden, and if any of the guards that had died had been in on it, were all unanswered questions. Catlin had said that they had dynamite that they used for excavation of tunnels when exploring the depths of the undercity, but that was usually fairly obvious and wouldn’t have cause the size and intensity of the explosion that occurred. Unless every single guard had been carrying a stick or two, and they had been detonated simultaneously. The likelihood of which was nil. Myne had theorized that it was possible that the blood magic had been used to amplify whatever force was used, but without examining whatever arrays were present at the time, she’d never know for sure.

“When was the last time that you saw Evrik?” Catlin suddenly asked, halting in front of what looked to Crystal like a rather important office building. The sort that would have been built not too long before the Demon King’s war against mankind, by people who had far too much money on their hands. It had aged about as well as every other building in the area, that is to say rather well all things considered, but still with the paint long gone, the signage partially eroded by the salt winds that still managed to blow up from the sea at the bottom of the cliff, and parts stripped by scavengers. Even given all of that though, the building stood tall and proud.

“Two days ago,” Seymor replied. “You don’t think something’s happened to him?” he then asked, his eyes opening wide.

“In those two days, no,” Clocky answered, getting another confused stare from Seymor.

“Are these even our guards?” Seymor asked.

“No. Of course not. Did Fairweather not give that away? They’re friends, whose identities we wish to keep under wraps for the moment.”

Seymor looked like he was about to protest, before he sighed. “Whatever. You know best, as always.”

The interior of the building held the same air as the outside, though compared to what she had seen inside Odinsphere it was rather mundane and worn down. A big wide open space will pillars that held up the roof at regular intervals, a bank of elevator doors at one end with staircases on either side that went from ground to the first floor, and what would have once been the reception area to the left of that. Catlin held her hand against the wall as they entered, and Crystal could feel the pull on the leyline as the lights in the ceiling flickered to life, illuminating the floor in the typical harsh white light, the ground floor label lights on the elevator panels also glowing.

The elevator was a lot larger than she had expected, all nine of them able to stand comfortably inside it with plenty of personal space. She imagined that once it would have had lush carpets, but they would have been one of the first things to lose its battle with time. Seymor stood on one side of the doors while Catlin stood on the other beside the floor selection panel, hand on it. Pulling on the leyline again, Catlin pushed mana through it, the elevator lurching to life and slowly descending, surprising Crystal as there was no indication on the panel that there were floors below ground.

“We’re not sure why either,” Catlin answered to her unspoken question. “We found it near a decade ago by accident, while exploring nearby areas. We have talented cartographers on our team of explorers who came to the conclusion that they must be linked up, and when we experimented a bit on our end we found that as always they were correct. Which was useful, as there was a lot of useful material down here.”

They had gone down a fair distance by the time the elevator stopped, giving off a cheerful bing as the doors slid open and they all stepped out. Exactly how far Crystal had no clue; without some frame of reference the speed of elevator was a complete unknown. Rachael let out a low whistle as she looked out over the railing that ran along the length of the walkway that they were on. In front of them stretched a network of walkways, bridges, and ladders that stretched over deep but mostly empty pools, the smell of salt water strong in the air. Regular and ordered but still giving that crowded feel, that they had used the space efficiently, and then shoved a few more in just because they could. Big metal domes dominated the centre of the large chamber, pipes running from them and into the depths of the pools, while half a dozen untarnished silver rods stood up vertically in each of the pools, the water gently lapping them. Three of the pools had domes in them as well, submerged in the water, with hexagonal patterns over their surface.

“The water’s been flushed,” Catlin commented as they started to make their way across the chamber, avoiding some of the metal walkways that hadn’t survived the passage of time, jagged edges protruding over the pools or paths sagging at worrying angles. Crystal wasn’t sure if you left sea water just sitting in a pool for years, but even with the salt concentration it wouldn’t be pretty. Having said that, she was pretty sure that salt water couldn’t be good for whatever technology this was. It would either rust it or stuff would stick to the sides and components.

“This is a nuclear power plant, isn’t it?” Rachael queried.

“You know your stuff,” Catlin said, nodding. “We spent a number of years trying to get it operational, but no matter what, we just couldn’t bring it back to life, even with our abilities as channellers. We’ve always assumed that there was just something fundamental about it that we didn’t understand, that meant that we couldn’t completely repair it. Aside from the whole salt water issue. But from what I’ve heard, no one has managed to bring one of these back to life. Hence why Brightswater is so valuable, and why it’s a fools errand to be down here.”

‘It’s just like the one in Odinsphere, though this one, while it appears to be more recent, is a far inferior design,’ Spectre chimed in. ‘Given that Librarian couldn’t bring that one back to life, it stands to reason that they’d similarly fail here. Though in theory it would make a good hub, since it would be connected to the cities network and designed for a heavy load.’

“But some of the systems are still operational?”

“Some, but not of any use any more. We stripped some of the more useful sections out for use elsewhere once we had exhausted all avenues. It isn’t the nicest place to have to spend your time just to power the city, even if it is isolated and secure.”

“That seems a bit risky given their nature?”

“No one died.” Catlin shrugged. “Some sections we’ve avoided like the plague. They’re sealed for a reason, and if our powers can’t penetrate it, it’s probably best left alone.”

“A solid policy.” Crystal said in agreement. Though in truth, if she was in their shoes, and not in the middle of a nuclear reactor, she would probably try and pry the held secrets free. It was a handy reminder however that that wasn’t always a sensible idea.

The clanging of their footsteps echoed through the chamber, drowning any sound that the water was making. They passed over a number of pools as they zigzagged their way across the chamber and around and past the domes in the middle, Crystal lamenting that while it would have been much faster to fly, most of the team weren’t capable of that. Crystal assumed that they were heading for the far side where a pair of elevated rooms were built into the side of the chamber, the lights in them flickering on and off as if they were faulty. Odd, given that channellers repaired the technology that they powered, and she knew for a fact that lights were included in that. Seymor seemed to be getting more nervous as well, his face scrunched up in though, his fist clenching and unclenching.

“That’s odd,” Catlin commented as they neared the rooms, Crystal guess correct. One of the pools directly adjacent from the room was filled near to the top, its surface murky and the greenish water looking patchy. “There’s no way he wouldn’t have heard us coming, and he’s a light sleeper.”

“#%^$, something must have happened to him!” Seymor suddenly exclaimed, drawing his sword as he surged forward and bounded up the stairs, wrenching the door open and charging into the room, disappearing into the darkness as the lights suddenly went out.

An ear shattering boom resounded around the chamber as the room exploded, the windows shattering with glass shards flying past them as fire poured out of the windows and door. Seymor’s body was thrown backwards from the entrance and into the pool, blood pouring from it.

“Seymor!” Tsugua swore, ripping off his helmet as he raced to the pools edge.

“Don’t bother,” Myne commanded, suddenly behind him, a restraining hand on his shoulder. “That’s not him, and they’re already dead.”

“What!?” Tsugua shouted, still struggling, confusion in his voice. “Who and what is that then? And where is Evrik? Still in there?”

“There’s been no one else alive here,” Myne stated, shaking her head as the body floated up to the surface, the guard armour in tatters, a large hole on his back, the head and half of one arm missing, blood seeping from them into the murkiness of the water. Tsugua choked, them vomited into the water.

‘I can confirm Myne’s statement. There was only his signal in the room, and now he is moving further away from us. Likely through another passage. The timing is all strange though, and there was multiple surges of mana just before the explosion. Including one directed at us.’

“What exactly is going on?” Catlin asked, her voice icy cold as she stared into the chamber.

“Another charade,” Myne answered flatly. “But I think you have more pressing concerns right this moment.”

As if on cue, the windows of the second room exploded outwards, fire licking at the walls as glass rained down around them again, acidic black smoke poured out. Crystal coughed, stepping back, smoke now pouring out of the first room as well. She could feel the intense heat from where she was. Whatever had been in those rooms, it was highly flammable. Or had been made to be that way. What on earth would you have in a ruin like this that would burn that way?

‘That is a very good concern, but even ignoring the rather urgent issue of the fires, we have company as well.’ Spectre turned, his eyes on the pool beside them as other forms bobbed to the surface, clawed hands scraping along the edge as they started pulling themselves out.

“Oh, piss of,” Myne spat, looking thoroughly unimpressed. Black flames erupted around the shamblers, screeches becoming gurgles as they lost their grip and slid back into the water, disappearing into its murky depths, the flames still visible, and still burning, even in the water. The all consuming hellfire. Crystal shuddered, unable to help herself. She was well aware of how powerful Myne’s magic was, even though she rarely used it.

“There must be a sprinkler system or such in a facility such as this?” Rachael questioned, looking at Catlin who was standing there, looking like she was in shock. She shook her head. “I can see why you let Tsugua do all of the fighting.”

Catlin stared at Myne for a moment, and then at the flames deep in the pool, before seeming to recompose herself. “Fires. Yes, right.” She looked around the chamber, before pointing at a call point on one of the far walls. “The master one is there. The closer ones are in there unfortunately...” Catlin gestured at the engulfed rooms.

“Of course, on the opposite side, with far too many broken walkways in between.” Rachael chuckled. “Not that that is an issue.”

Her body glowing as she reinforced herself further, Rachael grabbed a startled Catlin under her shoulders and quickly flew across the chamber, depositing the channeller in front of the call point.

“Here’s hoping,” Catlin declared as she placed her hands on the call point. Crystal felt the pull on the leyline again as the channeller fed magic into the system. There was a brief lull, the rest of them stepping back as something else inside the first room exploded, sending a burst of heat and flames towards them, before the chamber was filled with the sounds of a screaming alarm, red lights flashing.

Then the sprinkler system kicked in, water raining coming down around them and everywhere in more of a torrent than what she would have expected. It would definitely put out the fires, well, all bar Myne’s flames. It was just a pity that it was sea water, Crystal spitting the salty taste out of her mouth. It was miracle that it had activated.

And she was definitely going to need a bath after all this was over.

---

There was of course no point in doing anything more with the burnt out rooms than giving them a cursory glance. The intense fires had destroyed anything of value, and none of them were skilled investigators. Saylin or Vorsce may have been able to piece together what had happened from the charred remains, or what the remains even were, but neither were present. Given that the arkchildren and Myne had all confirmed that there was no other living signals down here, it also meant that if Evrik was still alive, and that was looking like a slim possibility at this stage given Seymor’s actions, he was certainly not here. Neither was his gauntlet. And the figure that had escaped from the exploding room was definitely Seymor, Myne stating in no uncertain terms that it was his signature she could sense. Catlin had looked like she was about to protest that conclusion, but seemed to think the better of it.

Of course there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation behind what had happened, that the channeller had been ambushed just as he had entered the room, barely making his escape through a ventilation shaft that had been sealed after him and was too small at this end for some of their team to fit through, but Crystal doubted it. She didn’t know much about magical traps, but Myne had stated that she would have felt such had they been present and activated. Especially since she had run into some on her last ‘investigation’, whenever and wherever that had been. The pulses that they had felt were not from triggered traps. Which really only left one possibility. Seymor would still get a chance to explain himself though, given that he was a close comrade of Catlin and Tsugua. Of course they had to find him first.

Both Catlin and Tsugua were still looking rather shell shocked as they walked their way out of the power plant and into the elevator, Catlin powering it without really paying it any attention. Crystal couldn’t blame them given what had just transpired. Ignoring the whole coup, Seymor had been with them for a long time, and they had invested a lot of time in him. Even if it was just in a work capacity, bonds form. But the coup had happened, and while they had on the surface accepted that it was likely one of the other channellers behind it, unrest, dissatisfaction, and all that, Crystal got the feeling that deep down they had still been hoping that it was actually an outsider behind it all, and that they’d be able to rescue the others and not lose anyone. But that hope had been shattered when they’d found Matt’s body, and it was only getting worse. The only one that they didn’t know anything about at this point was Merce, and they could only hope that nothing bad had happened to her.

Part of the issue with the nuclear power plant been hidden away like it was, for whatever strange reason it had been done so in the first place when it was built, was that it was also mostly isolated, and ignoring the ventilation system, there was no passages to any of the surrounding buildings at all. Crystal was surprised to learn however that there were surrounding buildings to it. Something to do with the unique nature of the city, perhaps even to do with what had happened to it in the first place post shattering like what she’d seen with Southmall when she’d first arrived or even the ruins below Agersdene City. Undercity had multiple layers, which they’d further divided into sectors, and one of those layers was at the same depth as the plant. The eastern wall of that area jutted out quite a bit, a few sections of it showing industrial concrete rather than natural stone, the hint that had led to the discovery of the plant in the first place. It wasn’t populated, the sector the remains of a residential section that hadn’t weathered the changes well at all. Part of it was occupied by mushroom farms that one of the noble families owned, every surface of the houses covered by the fungi, the rest though was ignored and left alone, after they’d stripped out anything useful of course. Which hadn’t been a lot.

Tsugua did most of the talking about it, Catlin still staying rather silent as they ran their way from the entrance of the building deeper into undercity, to a series of tunnels that wound their way down to the area in question. While the channellers hadn’t bothered putting their helmets back on, their journey was uninterrupted, the city still just starting to wake up and the streets and passages mostly empty. They passed by one other squad who had probably just come out from the tunnels, faintly glowing lanterns in their hands. The squad gave the group a startled look, but then they were past them, still running towards their destination. The tunnels weren’t lit at all, Crystal and Rachael both summoning orbs of light around them to illuminate their surroundings. There would be questions if they were seen, but they didn’t pass anyone else. The tunnels seemed natural at the onset, but obviously they hadn’t gone the full way, the walls and ceiling reinforced with wooden beams as they took a musty branch that went steeply down.

They stopped running when they emerged from the tunnel into the mushroom farm sector, Catlin breathing heavily while the rest of them seemed fine. The smell was even stronger now, and Crystal didn’t like it at all. It reminded her strongly of death, decay and abandonment, but not the romantic kind that you had with long lost ruins and such. Rather the swept under the carpet kind, where things could fester. Which was exact embodiment of this place she guessed. It was a strange association for her to make though, it wasn’t something that she had really experienced during her life thus far.

Crystal could see the farms from the entrance, a dull glow emitting from a small shed in which a single figure was slouching in a chair, head on their chest as they likely dozed. Not the best of security guards if that is what they were there for, but nor could she blame them. A position like that where nothing ever happened would be dead boring and she’d be tempted to sleep the time away too. The light from her and Rachael’s orbs was strong enough to illuminate some of the buildings behind the shed, the pale colours and round and irregular shapes of the fungi making them look like mutant structures.

‘Is he there?’ Crystal asked Spectre as they walked they way across the sector. There wasn’t a lot left of most of the buildings in the middle of the sector, concrete foundations all that remained of some. It reminded her somewhat of Old Town, but without nature trying to reclaim it all back. And this area had had a lot more time pass as well, by an order of a hundred. The ones around the outside seemed in better condition, having retained most of their shape, walls of stone and brick visible in the light.

‘He’s there, in the one against the wall with a circular pile of bricks by the stairs leading in. He’s been moving around quite a bit, though he hasn’t exited the building. There’s no way he could have missed our arrival. Your lights make us stand out.’

They stopped when they were a few paces away from the building that Spectre had pointed out, the sound of someone moving within on the wooden floors clearly audible. Crystal was surprised that the floor had managed to survive that long.

Catlin scowled at the building, her arms across her front. “Hello there Seymor. Care to explain what’s going on?”

There was a pause, everything going silent, before the door opened and Seymor stepped out, his guard uniform sporting some tears, and blood splatters down his front and on his hands. He looked tired and uncertain.

“You survived,” Seymor stated with a sigh of relief as he started walking towards them. “Thank goodness.”

“That's not going to cut it this time, boy,” Myne growled. “The stench of blood is strong on you.”

“Of course it is,” Seymor replied instantly. “I barely escaped with my life. I fared the worse for you all.”

“No.” Myne smirked. “The smell was just as strong when we met you outside the warehouse. Ingrained into your very being.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“There was no one else at the plant Seymor...” Catlin said, staring at him. “No one else alive. You were the only one in that room when the fire started. The only one using mana. Mind if we have a look at what you’ve been doing in there while we raced around here to your rescue?”

Seymor took a step back, suddenly looking vulnerable. “I have no clue what you’re talking about,” he tried again, before sighing as he looked at them. “Things would have been so much easier for everyone if you had just died in the explosion.”

“Why have you done this? We took you in, trained you, gave you everything.” There was sadness and resignation in Catlin’s voice. The channellers had invested a lot in this man. Crystal could sense it now though, whatever it was that Myne was referring to, the stench of blood. There was something off about Seymor, not just in the way that he held himself, but in his very being. He felt wrong. Like death, the mark upon his very soul. On the essence of his being. There was magic within him, mixing with the mana from the leyline as he pulled it to himself. He probably didn’t even know that they could fell him doing that.

Seymor’s face twisted into a sneer. “You have no idea of the truth of it, of what is really going on.”

Power gushed around him as he leapt at Catlin, hands morphing into claws, a surge of power washing over them as something activated in the building behind them, the walls suddenly awash in blood. Crystal cringed as a massive headache hit her, her magic flaring in response to push it away. Stepping in front of Catlin as the channeller collapsed to her knees, she summoned her shield, Seymor hissing as his claws bounced off it and he rebounded back.

“No. I think you do not.” Catlin looked up from the ground as she spat blood and wiped away blood from her nose and ears. “You know nothing of what we have seen and learnt. Of whose these people really are. I don’t know who you made a pact with, nor why, but you made the wrong choice. For yourself, and for our people.”

“I made the only choice.” Seymor’s eyes glowed red as tendrils of blood lashed out from the wall behind him, shamblers appearing in the door as they started lurching towards them.

use your neutralizing array.

Oh yeah, that. She hadn’t used it in months, but both she and Rachael had internalised the array, the tattoo of it on the back of their hands now gone. This wasn’t specifically taint, but definitely an application of blood magic, and the array had been designed with blood magic in mind. She knew how to alter it of course, but that would take more time than what she had at the moment.

Power flared around her as she called the array into being, the circles and runes glowing like the rays of the morning sun as they spread out from her, encompassing the entire area. Seymor and both of the shamblers screamed as their flesh started to smoke, the tendrils stopping dead in their tracks and collapsing in a shower of blood. The blood on the wall sloughed off, splattering onto the ground and spraying everywhere as it flowed in a rush towards them.

“Eww, that’s gross,” Crystal complained as she lifted herself off the ground with her wings, and by the sound of it Catlin was also hurriedly picking herself up behind her, as fast as she could manage anyway.

Rachael zipped around Crystal, her leg slamming into Seymor, smashing him into and right through the wooden wall behind him like it was a piece of paper. “There is always a choice,” she stated, her wings also keeping her in the air.

Taking the opportunity, Crystal ploughed into one of the prone shamblers, her blade glowing intensely as she put it out of action. Flipping around, she set her sight on the other, to find that Fairweather already had done the same, her blades buried deep in it, ethereal fire spreading over it.

Seymor staggered up, splinters of wood falling around him, as he tried to pull more mana to himself. And then frowned, as nothing appeared to happen.

“No you don’t, channeller boy,” Rachael said grinning, Crystal noticing that she had a tendril of mana tied up in her hand, the array glowing under her. “That’s our domain.”

A sharp crack echoed through the air, a burst of red mana ploughing into Seymor, throwing him against the stone wall at the back of the building. Three more followed as Tsugua moved his way forward through the blood soaked ground, handheld mana cannon pointed at Seymor, another gift to him from Odinsphere. Seymor glared at him as Tsugua made his way up the stairs into the building, loosing another shot each time Seymor tried to move. The cannon had started to smoke, but Tsugua unconcerned and kept using it anyway.

“Why?” Tsugua asked once he stood directly in front of Seymor.

“#$%^ you,” Seymor spat at Tsugua. “Zorthanalias will return.”

Tsugua placed the cannon right against Seymor’s head and fired.

Crystal blinked, confused, as she felt something, no, a shard of something, leave Seymor and then just vanish as his body slumped to the ground, all of the blood magic fading.

‘Did you sense anything?’ she asked Spectre as she released the array. If she’d felt it, Rachael had definitely as well, but it felt completely different from normal mana or magic. Something more fundamental.

‘On my sensors, no. But I could feel that you had felt it, if that makes any sense. Ditto for Kitsune as you assumed. But not for Hope. It appears that it might have just been you two.’

Tsugua turned, tears streaming down his face. “It’s over. He was definitely the one.”

“Yes, he was,” Clocky nodded in confirmation.

“That however was only the beginning,” Catlin sighed as she stared at the mess inside of the building. “We still have to find out if there are any loyal to him, or if it was just him, and then rebuild the trust of the citizens. At least he didn’t destroy our credibility along the way. Probably because he thought that he’d killed us the first time. And hoped the second. Let’s hope that Merce is still alright. And Evrik.”

“Evrik is dead,” Clocky stated matter of factly, his eyes taking on a starry aspect. “You’ll find proof of that soon enough. Merce is fine, but you’ll probably want to go see her soon.”

Catlin turned and looked at Myne. “I know that you’re ‘just observing’, but any chance that you could deal with all of that? It’s probably not the sort of stuff that we should leave lying around. And given all that he’s done, Seymor doesn’t deserve any kind of memorial.”

“Hey, wait for me to leave it first,” Tsugua grumbled as he quickly made his way out of the building.

Myne shrugged, hellfire engulfing the building and its surrounds as they started to make their way back out of the sector.