Prologue
The Catalyst
As the midday sun struggled through a blanket of smog, Kevary and Corven hurried down a narrow, cemented street in the low-class districts of Dictaduria, a country for exiled criminals, flanked by monolithic concrete houses known as blocks. They kept their voices low, wary of dictadurians lurking nearby who could end their plans—and lives—instantly.
"Are you certain about this?" Kevary's deep lilac eyes flickered with urgency. "If you're wrong, we're both dead, Corven."
Corven's gaze was steely, his resolve strong despite the stakes. "I’m good at research. Trust me. I saw it in the Gevurah records long before they turned me into an extarri and stripped the synthesis from me for stupid reasons. Gorbat has a safe and many valuables there," he declared with determination, his voice a few tones above a whisper.
Kevary was serious, aware about the danger of their situation; they had met days before working at a factory at the outskirts of Dictaduria.
“I won’t gamble my life on guesses. If you say you saw it, I believe you; it’s not like they would try to hide it. Malkuthians trust each other enough to have information accessible for everyone to see. People in general don’t care enough about what happens on the forgotten continent."
Corven paced on the sidewalk, frustrated.
“Because following every word of the Edictum Vitae is the ideal life. I didn’t even read the damned thing, and here I am, blamed for something you only know is a crime if you’ve read the manuscript.”
“Let's not get philosophical about it, the murmuratus wrote it for a reason and your ignorance of the law is not my concern, friend. Let's focus, I know for sure they have alters, and you have the possible location of these DNA modifiers that will allow us to cross Culter with a new identity and without having our brains melted. What are we waiting for?”
Corven liked her eagerness; it was refreshing in that monotonous country. “Don’t you think it’s safer if we do it at night when dictadurians are asleep or in Negativus?” His proposal arrived tinged with apprehension as they avoided an incoming group of sentinels, the police of Dictaduria.
“Where are the alters? Remind me,” Kevary asked, even though she knew the answer.
“At an Umbra warehouse deep in the twenty-fourth underlevel, why?”
“This is my plan, and I know this place better than you, so trust me on this. If we do it at night, we won’t succeed. There are too many dictadurians between us and the surface. We need to do it while everyone works up here. We can’t wait any longer. You’ve had this information sitting on your lap for too long. Nightfall won't cover us enough. We hit at midday, now, while the Umbra's attention is divided; most of them should be at their surface jobs."
Her arguments were compelling and Corven had to agree.
“Let’s do it. If you provide the muscle, I can be the brains on the mission.”
"You'll be more like a guide, don't flatter yourself."
He didn’t actually know if these so-called alters were in the office he saw in the holomaps, but the prospect of getting his hands on these valuable items cast a glimmer of hope in their depressive existence in exile.
They continued their journey through the concrete streets, surrounded by grim people going about their paths, all clad in oppressive, worn-out overalls marked with unique alphanumeric identifications meant to diminish their individuality by turning their identity into mere numbers. Corven struggled to process Kevary’s words, his fatigue aggravated by the oppressive heat and dehydration that plagued him since arriving in Dictaduria.
Kevary grunted, triumphant as they reached their first objective. “Follow me.”
Thanks to her knowledge, they uncovered a secret passage hidden under a trash container, revealing a hologram with the illusion of a concrete floor. Once they crossed it and left Dictaduria behind, the stark difference between the surface and the underground city was remarked upon. Crossing into Negativus, they left the oppressive smog of Dictaduria for a world of crystal tunnels and vibrant, nature-filled passages. The air was lighter here, filtered clean, as they moved quickly through the underground city, their footsteps echoing crisply off the crystalline surfaces.
Corven’s senses were overwhelmed as they descended into the labyrinthine underbelly of the secret city in a rush, lead by Kevary.
At one point, he paused, leaning into a blue crystal tunnel, soft and cold, overcomed by fatigue, sweating from every pore.
“Why do you stop? We must keep moving, let’s go.”
Kevary kept going, evidencing her impatience.
“I feel dizzy. It might be the change in temperature.”
Corven struggled to maintain his composure while his partner left her stress on the side and took a moment to breathe and relax.
“That or the extractor still taking a toll on you. Take this,” Kevary said, approaching as she offering him a green pill.
Without hesitation, Corven swallowed it, feeling a surge of energy course through his veins moments later. “These enhancers are lifesavers, thank you.”
It was the second time he had tried one. There was a great variety of them with unique properties, only available in Negativus. “It’s as if I had awoken from a great power nap.”
“Don’t overdo them,” Kevary warned. Her tone made him understand she knew the repercussions of abusing those pills.
“No worries. I can’t afford the addiction. There has been no luck with the job hunting. Dictadurians are hard to convince and intimidating, including you.” His confession came accompanied by a grim expression. "It's been failure after failure since I left Malkuth."
Before continuing their descent through the underlevels, Kevary turned to him with a seriousness that brooked no argument. “You’re an extarri. Get intimidating, or you won’t make it out of Sectum alive, this continent is not for weaklings.”
He felt a shiver of apprehension at her words, the gravity of their situation making him anxious as he considered the risks of their task with a high rate of failure but for some reason, he trusted her determination enough to believe there was a chance to succeed and change their realities.
They emerged into a cavern adorned with dark violet crystal rocks that glowed with a fluorescent luminescence. Corven struggled to orient himself amidst the confusing and eccentric passages, he'd be lost without her.
Kevary led the way with steady pace as they traversed the shimmering, cavernous depths of the twenty-fourth underlevel until they reached their destination: the exterior of a concrete warehouse guarded by Umbras, followers of Gorbat, the leader who held a tight grip over Negativus and the mobster-like families that controlled it.
She turned towards Corven. “It’s your turn. How do we get in?”
“What?” He faltered, caught off guard by her abrupt question, looking around for a solution.
“What do you mean, what?” she snapped, her patience wearing thin.
“Nothing. I’m joking,” he stammered, his mind racing to formulate a plan. “We gotta get on the aqueducts under the structure. According to the blueprints and scans I studied, if we go lower into these passages they should bring us to a sewer inside.”
“Good boy,” Kevary said, walking away, sure of what to do next.
With Corven following her lead, they made their way through a tunnel parallel to the fortress, their movements silent and deliberate. They descended deep into the secondary roads of that underlevel, far from the prying eyes of the Umbras in the main roads.
“Are you sure...?” Corven began, his words trailing off as Kevary silenced him with a glare.
When they reached the spot she was looking for, she knelt down and placed a tiny sphere on the exterior walls of the warehouse, its surface emitting a soft glow. Corven watched in awe as she broke the marble with the rock, activating it and releasing a reaction that made the rock melted like dark lava, creating an opening before it cooled down. "What is that?"
"A melting crystaphere, now hush." Without hesitation, Kevary continued, disappearing into the darkness beyond the new passage. Corven followed, his senses on high alert as they navigated the unknown terrain.
Inside, they reached a sewer that was dank and stinky, made of concrete, the air thick with the stench of sulfur. Kevary threw another crystaphere into the opening, sealing it behind them with a matter similar to rock.
"I want one of those things," he said in a hush, trying to ignore the nauseas provoked by the emanating scents.
“You don't have the money for it. Watch my six, and I’ll watch yours,” she instructed, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You got it, boss.” Corven scanned their surroundings for any sign of menace, feeling relief with such a competent ally by his side.
In the large space carved in rock, a crystal pipe with clean water snaked its way through the room, leading to a stairway and an elevated hallway on the other side. They caught a glimpse of a hatch in the distance, their hearts racing with anticipation.
“We’re under the warehouse, this sewer is close to the hallway where Gorbat’s office is at,” he whispered, his excitement palpable.
“Lead the way.” Kevary had a smirk playing at the corners of her lips, their possibilities were improving.
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Corven recalled everything he knew about the warehouse from the blueprints he had studied through holograms. He mapped out a quick path to Gorbat’s office built out of his photographic memories, his mind racing with the risky possibilities ahead of them.
They opened the hatch dividing the sewer from the rest of the warehouse, a heavy piece of metal easy enough to move when both of them pulled from it with care, trying to be silent, alert for any noise. Corven figured out where they were as soon as he got a good glimpse of the outside path, impressed with its purple walls carved just like the rest of the undercity, impossible for homo sapiens hands.
With hallways filled with hundreds of offices and storage rooms, others could’ve been overwhelmed with the task but thanks to Corven’s excellent memory, they figured out a route in no time, navigating the labyrinthine corridors with skillful ease prompted by Kevary's stealth abilities, avoiding Umbras at every other turn.
"There's someone coming, don't move," Kevary warned him, nervous as a couple of Umbras crossed between hallways right before they crossed them. After waiting for a few moments and continuing their path through a series of turns and sprints, they arrived at a purple door adorned with silver designs, imposing and unlike any other there, worthy of the leader of the underworld.
“It’s here. The alters should be inside.” Corven shared, his guts telling him he was right.
Kevary approached with a triumphant gleam in her eyes, her hand cover by a silver glove reaching for the door. But before she could open it, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway, shattering the tense silence.
A sense of dread washed over them as they turned to see a group of Umbras rounding the corner, their expressions surprised but determined, they wore the uniforms of their force with distinctive patches of their group, in the shape of a cloak dividing a circle with each side representing the opposites of Negativus and Dictaduria.
As the Umbras barked orders, Kevary sprang into action on an impulse, running into the fray with a ferocity that caught both their enemies, and Corven off guard. She threw a yellow crystaphere that reached them before her and released an electrical discharge, making them numb moments before Kevary reached them. Corven's ally impacted the nearest one with substantial force and pushed him away with inhuman force.
The whole cave trembled, none of the Umbras had a chance to unfold their weapons, still under the effects of the taser crystaphere, making it easy for Kevary to push them into the crystal walls with the same intimidating strenght.
"Are those gloves ancient tools?" Corven asked as she returned, too distracted by her abilities.
“Isn't it obvious? Stop railing off! We have to get the alters, now!” She pivoted towards Corven, her senses sharp. With a nervous nod of agreement from him, they advanced towards the purple door adorned with silver flares. Kevary attempted to twist the handle, only to find it stubbornly locked. “Of course, it has to be the hard way. Keep watch,” she directed, a tinge of frustration in her voice "If only I had a cristakey."
Showcasing the power of the silver gloves once more, she unleashed more kinetic vibrations upon the door’s lock, disrupting its structure. As it swung open, Kevary gave him new orders.
"Go in and get the alters, I'm keeping an eye out here for any other Umbras. Move, Corven, before they get here!"
With his hands shaking with nerves, he entered the office, poised for the search.
The grandeur of Gorbat's office was palpable, a vivid testament to his dominion over the dark underbelly of Dictaduria. The room was a stark clash of opulence and intimidation, with silver columns that gleamed against the deep purple hues of the walls. Each artifact and decoration was a spoil of his conquests, meticulously placed to remind all who entered of his power.
As Corven stepped inside, his pulse quickened. Not just from the danger that lurked with each ticking second, but from the sight of a missile shell repurposed into an ostentatious sculpture, overshadowed by a towering dragon statue encrusted with sharp, gleaming crystals. These menacing symbols of power were hard to ignore, but Corven knew he had to focus on the task at hand: locating the safe and retrieving the alters.
He rifled through Gorbat’s ornate bronze desk, but his search was fruitless. Memories of the thermal images from the blueprints he had discovered years ago—before his exile—were frustratingly vague, possibly a reaction from the nerves. Metallic stands around the room displayed a variety of contraband items, each piece a forbidden treasure in Dictaduria. Three imposing paintings of Gorbat dominated the space, each a portrait of the man who might wield more power than Copernus, the famed president of Sectum’s third country, showed him surrounded by his harem, their eyes giving away the illusion to follow Corven's steps.
"Kevary, I need your help!" His voice broke through the oppressive silence, sharper than he intended.
Her entrance was marked by a hint of annoyance and frustration “Keep it down! Don’t shout my name!”
“We need to take down these paintings,” he asserted, eyeing the glorified depictions of Gorbat with disdain.
"Are you sure about this?" Kevary's gaze flitted in disapproval over the embellished portraits.
"Yes," he responded, his voice firm, fueled the clarity of his memories.
Taking a deep breath to quell her exasperation, Kevary agreed, "Alright, which one first? Let's hope we don't trigger any alarms."
“The one on the left.” He knew she might be right and awaited for the best, concentrating on his memories. Those paintings made him remember the safe being behind one of them.
Together, they lifted the massive painting depicting Gorbat surrounded by a group of strikingly beautiful and naked courtesans, and leaned it on the wall. As Corven expected, there was a small, concealed safe embedded in the wall, the circular outline just visible under a thin layer of dust.
With her usual determination, Kevary brought another melting crystaphere and placed it on the safe's door, dissolving it in seconds. Inside it, they saw a number of valuable treasures and black velvet bag that lured both of them as they realize the alters could be inside of it.
"There must be an alarm," Kevary fretted, her nerves on edge.
"I thought as much," Corven agreed, his voice barely a whisper.
"Any insights into the security systems?" She asked, knowing it was too much to hope for.
“I might’ve screwed up on that one, my virtualis scoutings never went that far," he admitted, regret coloring his tone.
Kevary inspected the mechanism with a critical eye. "It might be weight-triggered, or maybe there’s a sensor we’re not seeing."
"Cliché or not, we have to be careful," Corven mused, weighing their options.
Time was slipping away, and with each passing moment, their risk of discovery grew. Kevary made a decision. "We’re taking it now. Be ready to run."
With a shared nod, they steeled themselves and Kevary reached for the bag and lifted it. Silence hung heavy in the air, no alarms sounded—only the sound of their synchronized breaths.
Kevary opened the bag and confirmed their success with thrill on her lilac eyes.
"Let’s get out of here," Corven whispered, the weight of their loot now a tangible in their possession, his heart about to leave his chest.
"Back the way we came?" Kevary went to the exit and peered out the office door with caution, scanning the hallway.
"Yes, let's go, fast." Corven confirmed, his mind already plotting their escape route.
Their escape was nearly thwarted when a tall figure flanked by three Umbras stepped into view at the end of the hall. "Going somewhere?" the voice was cold, charged with threat.
Corven felt a drop of fear, but Kevary was quick to act, pulling a cylindrical device from her belt and throwing it towards their pursuers. The grenade burst, releasing a mass of sticky, yellow gel that quickly hardened around the Umbras, immobilizing them.
"How did you—" Corven started, awestruck.
"Slime grenade," Kevary cut in, her tone brisk. "Buys us about seven minutes. Move!"
They raced back to the sewers, the adrenaline of their escape lending speed to their steps. Corven couldn’t contain a victorious whisper, "We did it!"
"Quiet. We’re not clear yet," Kevary hissed, "We have to hide them!"
Once they were away from immediate pursuit, Corven suggested, "Why not use the alters now? You could leave Sectum after you morph into someone else, right?"
Kevary shook her head, her face set in grim lines. "Not an option. We need to hide these properly, erase our tracks first. They’ll hunt us down in Malkuth regardless of any new face if we don't do that."
Understanding the weight of her words, Corven nodded. "Lead the way."
The woman walked towards the entrance they had created earlier and kicked the cork of fake rock covering the exit to the underground sewer.
Merging with the word around them, they navigated the crystal tunnels, moving toward a less frequented area of the undercity. An hour later, they were back at the concrete surface of Negativus and arrived at a plaza covered in hundreds of rectangular metallic platforms, reflecting the dim light coming though the afternoon clouds. It was here that Kevary paused, sensing something amiss.
A sudden electric shock coursed through Corven, dropping him to his knees as Sentinels approached, tasers drawn.
In a quick motion, Kevary grabbed her ally’s inert body and tossed him underneath the metallic structures that formed the reflective surface of the plaza, preparing herself for a confrontation. Only two Sentinels stood before her, clad in their distinctive dark orange uniforms.
“You look guilty of something,” a female sentinel accused, eyeing Kevary with suspicion.
“Why did you hide the other guy? We're going to get him after arresting you.” The second one, a man, informed, looking at the platforms with a grin.
There was no point in denying Corven’s lack of experience wasn’t a liability.
The male sentinel brought his electrical baton close to Kevary's face, menacing. "Ha! Could all this be for Negativus? I believe you know a path to the undercity, and I want you to share it with me, Dictadurian."
With a swift movement, she knocked the male Sentinel down using her glove to disrupt the flow of electricity and push it towards its user’s face, breaking their nose. Kevary used the confusing moment to push towards the other sentinel, knocking her down with the help of that baton with a couple of trained movements, incapacitating both of them.
Carrying Corven wasn't part of her plan, but she knew there was no choice. After concealing the unconscious bodies of the patrol under the platforms, she supported her partner, half-unconscious, through the dark space under the plaza.
“Please move, you're heavy.” She imagined the nightmare of having to take his weight back to her block at broad daylight. People would ask questions within minutes.
After slapping his face, Corven reacted, disoriented. "Where are we? Everything hurts.”
"No time to explain, C. We need to hide the alters."
Kevary gestured, pointing at the black bag in her hand.
Corven struggled to process the information, but he followed, weakened by the ordeal. They navigated with caution through the hundreds of mechanical columns under the plaza that held the platforms, dodging debris and filth, until they stumbled upon a grim sight: the old remains of other dictadurians, bones and clothing strewn about, along with a stroke of luck—a discarded yellow toolbox.
A triumphant smile lit up Kevary's face. She took the toolbox, shook it around to remove the excess dirt before taking out the rusty tools and placing the alters inside it.
With the little strength Corven had left, he helped her lift one platform to conceal their treasure inside a gap on the metallic structure. Nausea gripped him, and he retched, emptying his stomach bile onto the ground.
"That'll be a good mark to find them tomorrow." She said before laughing, relief on her tone.
Kevary knew she needed to get Corven to her block, which was nearby. She wasn’t fond of the idea but, with the curfew about to begin in a few hours, it was too risky for him to return home in his condition. If the umbras discovered him like that, and knew who they were, he would end up in questioning, and she was aware of their violent methods.
No, if they wanted to succeed on their escape from Sectum, the pair had to lay low for a while, begin with their preparations and leave before the Umbras could find them and take retaliations. The clock was ticking.
****
Here's an image of Kevary and Corven escaping from Umbras in Negativus!
https://i.imgur.com/wIMOW9f.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/wIMOW9f.jpg]
That's it for the Prologue!
Please continue to Chapter I.
Thank you for your time, see ya along the road!
Aequitas and much love,
Indigo Sapiens.
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