Lillene

Enjoy!

A lot was probably an understatement. Serenity wondered if she even knew how much time was compressed in the Vault. “How long did it seem that you were in there?”

Amani shrugged. “Hours. I don’t know. What’s a Lord Wizard of A’Atla?”

Serenity was pretty sure the title was simply Wizard of A’Atla? Unless… maybe that was another artifact of the translation? It wasn’t that unusual for languages to have specific indications of what a rank meant. English was far more fluid in that way than many other languages. Serenity shrugged internally; it would definitely be interesting when he learned her language, but there was no need to hurry on that unless he found other people who spoke it and that seemed unlikely. 

“The Wizard of A’Atla is the person who makes certain the ship functions properly. I’m probably also supposed to oversee any changes, for example, the installation of a storage vault.” Serenity picked the example to make a point; he had a reason to be here. Okay, yes, the real reason was curiosity, but it wasn’t like someone with the job of the Wizard was supposed to ignore something like the Vault, even if he hadn’t known it was here ahead of time.

Were they alternating questions? They certainly seemed to be, which made it his turn. He had an idea who the girl was, as long as she was telling the truth, which meant he could ask the question he was really interested in. She hadn’t answered his earlier question about what the Vault was, so he’d probably better start with a smaller question. “You called the Vault a prison. Why?”

Amani’s mouth dropped open. “You don’t know? I thought everyone knew that after the Battle of Otoyo.” 

Serenity blinked. “I’ve never heard of the Battle of Otoyo.”

A frown crossed Amani’s expression before it cleared. “Otoyo was the War to End All Wars; how could it be forgotten?”

Either the translator was surprisingly ironic or the same phrase had been used about multiple wars in Earth’s history. Serenity was not about to bet on irony when history repeating itself was an option. “It was so terrible that everyone tried to prevent another war from happening?”

Amani nodded eagerly. “That’s why the Vault was created. The Great Weapons had to be contained; they want to be used, so they can’t be allowed to be free.”

“And that’s why you called it a prison.” It meant Amani saw the “Great Weapons” as something closer to people than Serenity suspected her people had, but it wasn’t like personalizing inanimate objects was new. 

“I wonder.” Serenity looked at the damage in a new light. Whatever it was that tore its way through A’Atla’s surface to reach the Vault looked like it happened all at once; more than that, it barely touched the Vault itself. Was it possible that the Battle of Otoyo was similar to World War One in more than its catchphrase? Could the next fight have been set up partially by the outcome of the previous one?

In other words, was the point of the attack on A’Atla that somehow sent it into the sea to recover the Great Weapons stored in the Vault?

That would explain entirely too much of the way the Voice gave Serenity the information and why it was so cautious. 

[The Lost Vault was damaged in the events that sent A’Atla to the sea floor. Beware lest the secrets it holds doom the future as they once threatened the past] 

Yes, it seemed like a good guess. It didn’t change the next step, but it did mean that he’d need to be extremely careful about who he mentioned the Vault to, especially with the Voice’s warning about infiltrators.

[It will take many people to truly discover the secrets hidden in A’Atla. There are ways to find those who have been marked by your opponent. Find them before he places too many of his people where yours should be]

Serenity didn’t even know where to begin to “find those who have been marked by your opponent.” Realistically, he’d have to figure out who one of them was before he’d have a starting point; he didn’t even know who “his opponent” was.

On the other hand, there was a much more interesting thing he could do while he waited; there was even a decent chance it might be useful. “Is it safe to show me the weapons?”

Amani looked doubtful. “I’m not supposed to let anyone into the vault, much less the actual storage, without the authorization of the Consul.”

How quickly she forgot the situation. Serenity wasn’t even sure she remembered this wasn’t her time; she definitely didn’t remember that he outranked her, at least as far as A’Atla itself was concerned. Maybe he should remind her. “I could come back on my own; would that be better?”

Amani rubbed the back of her neck. “Your argument has merit.”

Who really said that? Her posture didn’t match her words, either; the words were formal but she wasn’t exactly standing still. Serenity could only assume it was a translation of a common phrase.

Amani disappeared into the Vault; Serenity followed her inside. The first room inside the door, the Viewing Room, was a square room with metal walls; at first glance, they looked like steel but Serenity doubted they were. There was a large wooden table in the middle of the room. It was clearly well used, since there were a number of scratches on it. Other than that, there were a number of small objects scattered around the room; most looked like a glass ball set on a stand on the floor.

Three heavy metal doors led out of the room through the other walls. Amani glanced between them for a moment before choosing the one to her right. She walked over to it, then turned back to face Serenity and gestured towards the far door. “The most dangerous stuff is to the left, the things that aren’t safe even for their wielder. If they can have a wielder. There’s a chunk of rock that just kills everyone who touches it, and it’s not the worst thing in there. At least you have to touch it. I don’t go in there.”

Serenity couldn’t argue with that, even if he did wonder what the rock really was. There was more than one thing he could think of that would fit the description, after all, and some of them were quite valuable and useful for things other than causing death and destruction. “What’s through the other door, then?”

Amani grimaced at that. “Animals, mostly, plus some plants. The vicious or invasive sort, the ones you don’t want around but can’t quite get rid of. Where possible, they’re stored in huge numbers. I think half the storage area is locusts of one sort or another.”

Serenity grimaced at that too. They were weapons that were meant to wage war on a population, then, rather than on the actual warrior. He’d probably want to see about destroying them; as effective as biological warfare of that type could be, it was almost as likely to backfire as the disease sort was, and he didn’t want it on his planet. Any of his planets.

He doubted he’d use it even if he could. He knew what the consequences of that sort of war were, and he’d seen more than enough dead planets for one lifetime. For that matter, he’d seen more than enough for two lifetimes.

“The actual weapons are here,” Amani stated. “They’re why I call this a prison. They’re not smart, exactly, but they’re …” She shook her head. “I can’t explain it. They have desires and they can express them. They’re more like animals than people, but there’s something about them that makes me wish we didn’t have to lock them away. Of course, that’s the real threat of them all; they want to be used and they can make you feel that. They call out to everyone, even people who can’t actually use them.”

Serenity frowned at that. Intelligent weapons were rare; almost all of them were ancient. No one knew how to make them or even when the knowledge was lost, but it was something that few people had rediscovered and the ones who had usually didn’t make many of them. Why would there be enough of them here to rate an entire section of the vault?

Maybe there were only a few but they needed special containment because they were the ones the most likely to be pulled out and used later? Serenity could believe that; if they were good enough, it even made sense. 

Unfortunately for Serenity’s peace of mind, his assumption was immediately proven false when he stepped through the door into the weapons room. It looked more like an armory than a storage place for a few unusual weapons. His first glance showed several bows, quite a few swords, half a dozen spears, several things that reminded Serenity more of farm implements than actual weapons, at least four staves of different sizes, three war hammers, five shields, a number of individual armor pieces and even one thing that looked more like a ribbon than a weapon. 

Worse, Amani was correct; he could feel their desire to be used. It was so much like the effect of another’s aura that Serenity reflexively used his own aura to protect himself.

All but one of the weapons seemed to back off. The one that didn’t was one of the apparent farm implements, a pitchfork with four tines. The reason it hadn’t backed off was obvious; like Serenity, it had a deep tie to Death. The Death it was tied to was a slightly different flavor, more corrosive and insidious than Serenity’s, but not truly all that different. It would be a powerful weapon in his hands, able to stand up to his current Tier and probably several Tiers to come and channel his most powerful Affinity.

Serenity snarled wordlessly at it. There was no way he was going to allow a weapon to overcome him; he didn’t need or want a new Death-aligned weapon. He especially did not want a weapon that would slowly and painfully kill after even a minor injury. It was likely to be very effective in exactly the way Serenity no longer wanted to be.

Serenity’s snarl didn’t seem to have affected the demon, but the anger and annoyance he sent it through his aura definitely did. It seemed to back off for a moment before redoubling its efforts to tempt Serenity into picking it up. Unfortunately for the weapon, the tack it took was anything but tempting.

When the pitchfork finally relented or at least ran out of energy, Serenity didn’t immediately see Amani. He was confused for a moment before it occurred to him to check the floor near his feet. Amani was prostrated on the floor with her forehead against the ground, facing towards him.

What the hells?

“Amani? Why are you doing that?” When Amani didn’t immediately move, Serenity tried again. “Please stand up, Amani.”

That time, he clearly got her attention. She quickly bounced to her feet; after one wide-eyed look, however, she stared at her own feet instead of looking at him. “I’m sorry, I should have guessed. I didn’t mean any disrespect, I’ll do whatever you want to atone.”

Yes, this was definitely hellish. She’d clearly guessed something, probably incorrectly. At least, Serenity hoped it was incorrectly. “Calm down Amani. Tell me what’s wrong; you don’t have to look at your feet.”

Amani looked up, but her eyes only made it to Serenity’s chest. She didn’t seem to want to look him in the eyes the way she had earlier. “Lord Dis, my life is yours to claim.”

Lillene

Can you tell what mistake Amani made and why she made it? It’s a logical conclusion from the knowledge she has.