Chapter XIV

Spheneus

Outside, everything was dark; the door closed behind her with a metallic squeak, it was pitch dark, some murmurs from lost conversations in the background.

Before she could think about what had happen, an old friend showed up. Ferrari was a skinny hairless dog. He had appeared the first night they spent on that block six months before and since then, he had survived feed from the pity of R sections neighbors.

Adria brought a treat out of her bag and gave it to him. She bought those pet pills in Negativus, small, but effective. Enough to make any animal feel satisfied for a few days.

Feeling the known effect, Ferrari came to Adria, head down, caressing his head with her leg. As usual, she gave in and pet him behind his ears and the head for a few minutes.

“Good boy, I’ll see you soon, keep an eye on Bit for me, please.”

She walked away, with the notion of a reality where she left Sectum without Bitlan haunted her. The road was obscure, yet she traversed it as if it were daytime, almost automatically.

Her thoughts drifted to Negativus. She had visited the underground town countless times and had memorized every route. It was an essential part of her life in Dictaduria; they would have perished from starvation without it. The undercity had helped them stay afloat through the toughest times. The third country was rugged, but there were ways to navigate it unscathed.

Adria reached the hidden entrance she had been using to access Negativus for the past few months. An old building barely stood at the corner of an avenue close to the N sections, burnt and abandoned. It reminded her of Roland Copernus' existence. The president was a narcissistic madman who exploited Dictaduria to satisfy the Evantias. He was a liar, oppressing Dictadurians with hypocritical laws and a class-segregated society.

She found a broken window; the shards reflected her fragmented form, pale with dark hair. There was a destroyed exhibition stand with broken mannequins on the ground. It had once been a shopping mall. Adria stepped through the frame and entered a hallway leading into the forbidden city. Stone walls, shaped with garnet and carved with intricate patterns, felt as familiar to her as her own hands.

Adria liked to touch and feel the textures and designs in the walls, beautifully carved by Binah. The seed and the flower of life, pi radius, and the Fibonacci sequence among others.

A pentagonal tunnel led her to Alchemist Road, the fifteenth underlevel of Negativus. Nature had overtaken a black and white stone dome, a vast space protected by an octagonal ceiling covered in flora. A circular alley encircled a central fountain, atop which, a sculpture shaped like Metatron’s cube spun.

A clock from a nearby store displayed the time with a pink neon glow; it was 11:23 pm. With enough time to spare, Adria paced towards her favorite spot in that underlevel:’Spheneus.’ She planned to spend twenty minutes there before heading to Lux the Noctis before midnight.

Spheneus's products had been her salvation for years. Before reaching the bluestone-carved store, Adria noticed the 'U' on its sign was off and stepped into the entrance.

An electric blue door, devoid of a doorknob, stood before her; she had to wait without showing her nerves. Spheneus was a members-only store. In seconds, the door morphed into a blur, changing its composition. She passed through it.

The interior was built with electric blue iron. Numerous shelves were suspended from the ceiling, holding countless artifacts at first glance. Adria saw two other people navigating the aisles while she walked straight to the glass counter.

The person in charge of Spheneus greeted her with recognition. “Adria Sama! What a surprise,” he exclaimed, clearly delighted to see her.

“Carmenus, you forgot to check your sign outside; the ‘U’ in Spheneus is off,” she pointed out.

His eyes widened. “Again? Christ almighty, lord of thunder. It won't happen again, my lady. How may I assist you today?”

“I need your crystaphere catalog. Do you have everything in stock?”

“Here at Spheneus, we are committed to our customers’ needs. What you seek, we provide, and what we lack, we find. I'll check if the product you’re looking for is available; most of them are. Let me fetch the index for you.” The man left his stool with awkward moves and vanished from her sight. She roamed around, captivated by the variety of artifacts for sale.

What set Spheneus apart was its uniqueness in Malkuth. An incredible collection of items like weapons, traps, shields, and bombs, along with armors, surveillance, and tracking devices centuries old. Quantum artifacts and even some, high shelf gadgets with Artificial Intelligence. They also stocked televisions, radios, computers, video game consoles, VR - items deemed worthless in Malkuth but valued in the thousands of gatvits in Dictaduria, as they could create advantages within the social structure of Sectum.

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Her gaze was captured by a glass cage housing robotic pets such as snake, crows, owls, toads, and fantasy creatures, each more intriguing than the last.

Carmenus returned with a catalog in hand; Adria stepped back, ready to search for her usual crystapheres and perhaps some surprise ones.

“We have a couple of specials. There are some new crystapheres we’ve been testing. One is a cloud that can be used as a bed anywhere, indoors or outdoors, underwater locations included, perfect for last-minute incursions, camping, or mere rest. There’s also an updated version of the automated vacuum crystaphere...”

“I know what I need, Carmenus, thanks,” she interrupted, cutting off the advertisement.

With a smirk, he bowed and left. It didn’t take long for her to find a replacement for the pink sand crystaphere she had used with Meida and Timor while saving Corven; Adria picked a few others and a new curaten, having used most on that man’s wounds. She jotted down her selections in a notebook left on the counter.

Carmenus returned when she was ready, took the order, and once more departed to retrieve the supplies.

Adria used that time to search for a new weapon. She had possessed a cane for self-protection for months, but it was lost during the landslide while she was trying to assist their neighbors. The array of artifacts was overwhelming; Adria was relieved to have a clear idea of what she wanted. There was no time to waste.

The counters were packed with unique items. She could see a sword with an obsidian blade, a bloodstone nunchaku, tens of electric chains, among many other artifacts.

The Dictadurian searched until the manager returned. "Do you have anything similar to the cane I had?"

"A cane?" He approached, focusing on her face with the aid of his glasses.

"The stick I always have hanging from my back?"

"Interesting," Carmenus mused as he turned around and paced between the aisles. "The crosier?"

"A crosier? Is that even a word?" At least it wasn't one she had heard.

"Yes, the 'stick' hanging on your back that you used to defend yourself with is called a crosier."

"I'll call it whatever I want." She was irked by his correction.

"Certainly, madam, my apologies," the store manager said as he walked through the shelves.

"Well?" She followed him, her patience waning.

"Well, what?" Carmenus repeated, on a different wavelength.

"Do you have something like it?" Adria's words were laced with exasperation.

He understood. "Oh! Yes! Of course, I do!" The man's pride was evident, though she wondered if he was feigning ignorance.

"Then show me! I'm running out of time, Carmenus!" Time was crucial.

The attendant quickened his pace, and within twenty seconds, he stopped at a shelf displaying not just one, but fifteen different crosiers for Adria to choose from; they varied in size, shape, color, and texture. Her gaze was captured by a bright golden crosier that could transform itself into a cage and multiply, then by a wooden one embedded with special crystapheres for combat.

With so many options, it was hard to choose. Another cane could split into a sword and shield, while a red one could blast fire. At the end, she leaned towards the most discreet one: a graphene stick half her height, easy to balance. In its center, a leather handle provided grip. It had morphological qualities, being both expandable and bendable.

"This one," she decided.

Carmenus was elated by the sale.

They returned to the counter, where he handed her the order. Everything was packed in small cardboard boxes, each tied with cords and labeled with the product's name on a tag with a stylish typography. The Dictadurian stored everything but the cane on her bags and pockets. He presented her with the bill—five thousand six hundred and eighty-eight gatvits. Adria paid, feeling the need to return to the mines. She hadn't expected the cane to cost three thousand gatvits. The Extarri took out a green velvet bag and settled her debt with a pang of regret.

"Thank you for your business, your divinity." The vendor bowed.

"Don't call me that," Adria detested his formality.

"Understood, Madame," he replied, seemingly ashamed of his earlier address.

"Have a good day, Carmenus."

"And you, Adria Sama," he said with such a deep bow that his glasses fell to the ground.

She ignored the spectacle, annoyed with the theatrics, and left without another word; Carmenus was far from her favorite Dictadurian, a stark contrast to his boss: the charming and courageous Perana, the one responsible for bringing all these artifacts to Sectum.

Outside Spheneus, there were fifteen minutes to reach Lux de Noctis without being late for her meeting with Corven; Adria assessed the flow of people. It was doable, but she had to hurry.

****

That's it for Chapter XIV!

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