Chapter 27: Undone
A sudden jolt of panic surged through Vina, and Langternem slipped from her grasp. She lunged forward, her good hand seizing Tacey's with desperate force just as she was about to disappear into the water. Placing every infusion point into strength, she pulled back with all of the strength she could muster, but her feet couldn’t find purchase against the slick scales beneath her. Without a railing to brace herself against, the relentless tug of the tubes was too much. With a gasp, she was pulled in as well.
Gritting her teeth against the pressure, Vina held on, feeling the terrifying pull of the depths before it abruptly ceased. She squinted through the murky gloom, the feeble glow of her lantern barely piercing the murky darkness. Tacey's lavender eyes met hers. The fear she exhibited before had been replaced by a steely determination.
Tacey's arm coiled around Vina’s waist, and together, they began a desperate ascent. Their bodies broke the surface in a splash of frothy water, gasping for breath as they clawed their way onto the scale platform. Tacey's voice, hoarse and ragged, "Don’t let go of my hand!" As if in response, Vina felt a warm trickle seeping through her grip. Blood sense told her exactly what it was.
Fury caused her to ignore Tacey’s words, and she let go. She retaliated with a sharp slap across Tacey’s face, though Tacey was quick to recapture her hand. "What the hell were you thinking!" Vina's voice was raw, her words slicing through the damp air. "I told you this place is alive! Why aren’t you listening to me!”
Tacey's retort was equally fierce. “You don’t know anything about this place! Those things could be running the damn assemblers outside!”
“They’re not! It’s just Kaliter blood!” Vina yanked her hand away again, her anger flaring.
“How can you know?!” Tacey screamed even louder, and she made to grab Vina’s hand once more, which Vina avoided effortlessly.
“Because I control blood, you dumb bitch!” She snatched up Langternem, turning to leave, only to halt as the water began to churn once more.
“You have to hold my hand!” Tacey pleaded with her. “They let go when you grabbed me!”
With a groan of frustration, Vina spun around, her hand snapped out to recapture Tacey's. The turbulent water immediately calmed, the blood-filled tubes receding back to their pulsating rhythm.
Blood seeped between their interlaced fingers and dripped onto the scales beneath them. Her glare bore into Tacey, “I don’t know why this is working. Maybe my armor is protecting you for now, as long as you’re in contact with it. But listen closely," she warned, her voice as cold as the water beside them, "I promise if you destroy anything else in here without cause, I will let them kill you.”
Tacey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but her vibrance was still filled with defiance.
With a slight lift of their joined hands, Vina watched the droplets of blood roll down their armored arms, “You lost your glove.”
A mournful look crossed Tacey's face as she considered her bare hand. “Yeah. One of the tubes snatched it. It sliced my hand open in the process too. But it’s okay, I’m already healing.”
Vina observed the scratches and cuts on Tacey’s face with a keen eye, watching the determined movements of her healing ability as it stitched the skin back together. “Your healing ability is weak,” she growled, her fingers flexing against Tacey’s as she activated Blood Aid.
Tacey's protest was a sharp shriek when she saw the blood reverse its course, moving up her arm and back into their joined hands. Her body stiffened as she tried to pull away, but Vina held her tightly. “Don’t use blood abilities on me!” she squealed.
Ignoring her protest, Vina yanked Tacey across the scaled platform, her movements as forceful as the words she had just spoken. With the use of her title ability, Langternem floated along beside her calmly.
Vina crossed the distance of the cavern, her steps filled with a determination that echoed in the hollow space. She almost dragged Tacey behind her, treating her like a misbehaving child. Vina suspected Tacey was far stronger than herself based on the woman’s vibrance, but the ominous presence of the tubes seemed to douse any desire for Tacey to resist.
“Vina, please, this far from Saryne…” Her voice drifted away as she started again. “You’re hurting me,” Tacey's request was almost drowned out by the echoes of their steps in the cavern.
Halting in her tracks, Vina swiveled around, her glare sharp enough to slice through stone. “I should slap you again for that. This pain?” Vina gave their joined hands a vigorous shake, her grip tightening like a vice. “It’s nothing compared to the damage you just inflicted on this place. There’s a world of life here, yet all you want to do is destroy it!”
Tacey winced under Vina’s grip, but she met her force with equal intensity. “This place is an abomination. A festering aberration on Trina’s beautiful world. It deserves to be destroyed!”
Frustration rippled through Vina and she shook her head in disbelief. “You’re completely insane. You’ve taken too much divinity. You don’t even know what matters anymore.”
“Who told you such nonsense? Divinity doesn’t cause insanity!” Tacey spat back, her voice echoing off the cavern walls. “The Darkness’ whispers are the true cause. It just speaks more often to those with bonded aspects!”
Doubt crept into Vina, a chilling shadow over her certainty. She’d only ever heard the link between divinity and insanity from Jan. “Wait…is that true?” Vina asked, her anger receded into uncertainty.
“Yes! You’re going to go crazy too if you keep entertaining its words! Most of The Twelve refuse to let me silence The Darkness and converse with it regularly.” Tacey exhaled in exasperation. “You need to stop. Let me stop it?”
But Vina's resolve was unyielding as she remembered her promise to Stine. She needed to uncover her mother's location. “Not yet. After we're done here, after I get what I need from Stine, we’ll revisit this discussion.”
“There’s nothing here, Vina. Isn’t that painfully evident?” Tacey gestured around the desolate cavern.
“No!” Vina protested. “You’re not seeing the patterns that surround us. This armor," Vina's voice was firm as she patted her chest weakly with her left hand, "It was a gift from my mother. It's the key that allowed us to enter this place. It chose our path, guided me to that panel engraved with my mother’s runes. Those blue runes were powered by kaliter blood, but they weren’t blood runes. Something here is converting it into divinity. These... entities," Vina gestured weakly with her left hand, "They are the blood's source. My mother is communicating with me, and I won't stop until I understand her message!”
Tacey's eyes bore into Vina, her voice laced with contempt. “Your mother’s betrayal runs deeper than I imagined,” she derided.
Vina's teeth clenched, her patience fraying at the edges. With their hands still clasped, she held them up in warning, “Bitch! I just saved your life! Do you really think calling my mom a betrayer, just because she wouldn’t help make some fake Aspects of Life, is wise at this moment?”
Tacey scoffed, her dismissive gesture sending their clasped hands swinging back down. “Do you honestly believe that’s the extent of your parents’ actions? Your father established The Twelve. He initiated experiments on children, manipulating them into becoming ideal vessels for the aspects he believed could combat The Darkness. When he couldn’t find precisely what he needed, your mother devised the Portal Ring network. Together, they snatched children and aspects from any corner of the world they desired.”
Vina digested this alternative interpretation of events. She knew her father's inclination towards experimentation firsthand. Her bones still bore physical reminders of his choices. The accusation about her mother creating the portal ring network for abductions was new.
Tacey's laughter echoed hauntingly within the cavern as she spotted Vina’s doubt. “You know I'm right! Did you also know, after his experiments, all we requested was that our suffering not be in vain? We wanted immortality so that no others had to suffer as we did. Can you guess his response, Vina?”
Vina cast her gaze downward, her voice barely more than a whisper, “He said no.”
“Of course he did! So we compelled him to do it. Then your mother assisted our torturer in his escape.”
“Damn it!” Vina's expletive echoed through the chamber. “Shan also did something to me.”
Tacey gaped at her, aghast. “To even his own daughter?”
Vina shot Tacey a warning look. “Listen, I'm truly regretful for Shan's actions. But I am still hopeful my mother wasn't a part of whatever Shan did. When I find her, she’s going to tell me the truth. Come on. Let’s see what she has planned for me here.” With a more gentle tug, Vina led Tacey across the cavern.
At the cavern’s end, however, they encountered a massive expanse of water. The cavern wall was so distant that it barely registered in Vina's sight. An endless sea seemed to spread out into the darkness of the cavern, but Vina noticed a faint glow emanating from the depths of the abyss below. “There’s something down there,” Vina mused, scanning the surroundings for a way to reach the bottom.
“Over there.” Tacey pointed with her free hand. “Another rune pad.” Guiding Vina toward the panel, they observed several tubes connected to a flat stone, descending into the water. With a tentative touch, Vina activated the dark oval, illuminating two large blue runes, one slightly dimmer than the other.
“The brighter one reads ‘Znequoxic’” Vina’s mouth moved around the word with difficulty.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Just tap it,” Tacey urged, her patience clearly waning.
Vina complied in silence and waited. After a few tense moments, the glow below began to intensify. “It’s moving upward!” she exclaimed, her voice ringing with excitement. Anticipation filled her as the object ascended closer to them, but as it loomed larger in her view, a realization struck her. “It’s massive. Perhaps as large as a building.”
Tacey peered over the edge too, and a gasp escaped her lips.
“What?” Alarm sparked in Vina's eyes.
With gritted teeth and a spark of anger in her vibrance, Tacey muttered, “How is that possible… Trina?”
Vina scanned the object again, straining her eyes for clues. Then she noticed it. Something momentarily blocked the light, followed by several more. “Sigils?” she gasped. “Is that a Refuge of Trina?
“It shouldn’t be possible,” Tacey whispered. “Only Trina could create those. New ones haven’t been made since The Severing. How could one be here?”
Vina had no answer for her. She could only watch in silent awe as the glowing orb continued to ascend. As the cavern was bathed in the barrier's radiant glow, Vina anticipated that it was about to breach the surface. “We should step back,” she suggested, guiding Tacey away.
Moments later, the barrier burst forth from the water, cascading droplets in all directions. It bobbed heavily for a moment, sending ripples across the scales they stood on. The cavern was flooded with a brilliant light as sigils darted around the semi-circle. Vina squinted, her eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness, while Tacey shielded her entire face from the intense light. After the initial jolt, the orb settled beside the path, its gentle bouncing slowly subsided.
Peering inside the orb, Vina discerned that a large building had been erected. Pulling Tacey behind her, Vina stepped into the barrier for a closer look.
You are in Trina’s Refuge. In this place, no harm can come to you.
Refuge Recall Location Added
“How in the world was one of these made down here?” Tacey pondered. “No one knows how Trina made new refuges.”
Vina strode toward the building within the refuge. The outer walls, made from the same scales they'd seen throughout the facility, had regular doors for an entrance. The door opened easily at her touch, revealing a room lit by blue runes tracing the gaps between floor scales. Vina immediately recognized the wall sconces as her mother's shadow scatterers. But her heart sank seeing the room's emptiness.
Frantically searching for any sign of Kaliter presence, all Vina found was a layer of dust coating the inner sanctum, the barrier clearly holding back the water while it was submerged. The realization that Tacey might be right struck her. If there were no Kaliters here, she couldn't complete her binding quest, deliver Stine’s message, or fulfill her promise to her armor. The direst consequence of this was her impending death by failing to fulfill her binding quest. As her heart pounded in her chest, she felt the walls closing in.
"What is that?" Tacey questioned, her voice laced with revulsion. Her words momentarily pulled Vina out of her mounting panic.
An eight-foot-wide rupture scarred the center of the building, as though the very soil had fallen away to an abyss in a perfect circle. Purple tubes of diminishing sizes lay strewn toward the gash connecting to countless glowing blue runes etched around its perimeter. The depth of the pit, however, remained unknown from their distance.
"I... I have no idea," Vina admitted, her voice wavering as she tried to reign in her growing apprehension. She released Tacey's hand, taking a tentative step toward the chasm. Tacey reached out, trying to regain her grip, but Vina shook her off. "We're in a refuge, you're safe," she assured her, and sprinted toward the gap in the ground.
Upon closer inspection, the hole's depth proved disappointing - a mere four feet before ending in a solid rock bottom. "It doesn't lead anywhere," she informed Tacey, whose trepidation had kept her at bay.
“Vina…” Tacey started.
"There are other rooms here," Vina interjected, striding out of the main hall with a feigned calm, attempting to mask her inner turmoil from Tacey. Once out of sight, she activated her Observe skill and began to survey the side hall.
The corridor led to various side rooms, each one eerily similar - a simple table anchored to the wall, large basin-like bowls tucked into the corners. Disassembled parts of an indiscernible apparatus littered the tables, and her Examine skill returned nothing but errors upon inspection.
Everywhere she walked, however, there were runes scrawled across the floor. She sneaked glances at them occasionally, recognizing them to be similar to the ones she had already seen in other refuges. These, however, were not covered or obscured. What had once been hidden from her, was now on complete display. What she saw appeared to be purely her mother’s handwriting. She saw the identification rune, and the modifications it had undergone as more identifiers were added over time. This time, however, the sanctuary rune form caught her attention - a runic construct that would make the barrier tangible and prevent entry to those not keyed correctly. As she memorized the runes, her eyes tirelessly searched for answers to her other, more serious questions.
As she neared a corner room, a distinct difference caught her eye. Two standard beds, each accompanied by a smaller, but strange bed at their foot, filled the space, with another small bed nestled in-between. On instinct, Vina rushed into the room, immediately identifying two more glowing runes. "She was here," she whispered, her fingers gently brushing against the small bed. It was constructed from a complex weave of unidentifiable materials, creating an almost wicker-like appearance while the consistency was stonelike.
Beneath each bed, two vibrant blue runic words were illuminated by a network of tubes and devices from the wall. "Bond," Vina voiced out loud. A warmth radiated from the bed, and through her Blood Sense skill, she could perceive a lifelike circulation within the structure. "We were all here, hiding with The Kaliters," she murmured, struggling to decipher the scene before her.
Her gaze swept across the room, but her Observe skill found no other points of interest. The small beds, despite their layer of dust, were impeccably made. Looking closely at each, she noticed one appeared untouched by time, while the other two were as dusty as the room itself. Approaching the cleanest bed, she carefully delved into the covers, removing the blankets to reveal a square object that made her Observe skill light up. Numerous additional runes decorated the mattress’ bottom, but Vina's attention was instantly captured by the small leather-bound journal.
She quickly picked it up, flipping to the last page and began to read.
> Lady Priya,
>
> We have reused your alternative method to activate the Zriqen. The original method has been placed in the clutch of your eldest. We are unable to await your return any longer and will be departing Palitern as soon as we are ready. On behalf of The Kaliter people, we thank you for aiding our escape from this world. Sincerely, we hope you are able to reunite with your family.
>
> Safe travels,
>
> Ziqin
Vina's eyebrows knitted together in bewilderment. "They left!" she exclaimed, leafing backwards through the pages. She soon saw her mother’s handwriting filled the rest of the book. Initially all she saw were complex formulas, cryptic runes, and theoretical musings. Flipping to the book's beginning, she skimmed through the rigorous notes and documentation until she stumbled upon something resembling a diary entry.
> “The strangest thing happened this evening with Shan. I was carving up the latest rune map for a new portal ring when inspiration struck me. Why in the world am I creating portal rings when we could all carry portal rings within ourselves? I realized that the same runes I apply to the portal rings could be applied directly to our own bodies. The idea is of course rather distasteful to most, but imagine a world where we could all travel without the need for a portal ring. Anyone could go anywhere they desired with a simple thought and application of divinity! Upon further thought I did realize that dialing a location might be impossible since one couldn’t enter a rune sequence through their skin and onto their bones.
>
> I did mention this idea to Shan over meal, though, as a part of our normal conversation. His response was neither fascination nor disgust. He simply heard me out and then gave no response at all. He didn’t even ask questions! Considering his ongoing efforts, I figured his reaction would be more animated. I even baited him slightly by saying, “Imagine if you could just choose to travel to a person’s location with a thought.” This was quite out of character for him. I wish he would tell me what was on his mind.”
The entry sent a shiver down Vina's spine, but now it was seared into her memory. She continued to skim past multiple rune words and diary entries, in search of something particular.
> “Vina is lost. Shan sent her through the Zriqen and then stopped using the Aspect of Divinity. Devastation and rage don't capture what I feel. Shan has fled, evading my wrath and The Kaliters. He knows his life will end if found. His betrayal is unforgivable!
>
> Ziqin has granted me and my children temporary refuge in return for my assistance. But I can't use the Aspect of Divinity like Shan. I am not divine. I need an alternative means to power the Zriqen, to get The Kaliters and Vina home again. I believe the answer lies at the source of divinity itself.”
“Okay… okay,” Vina mumbled, wrestling with the words. “The Zriqen is some kind of portal or something. Shan was using the Aspect of Divinity to power it. It’s powerful enough to override Paliterns lockdown. I got sent through…” her voice faded away. “The original method has been placed in the clutch of your eldest,” she echoed Ziqin’s words. She looked down at the bed in front of her and saw the blanket was a faded yellow. Looking over at the other beds, she saw that one of the blankets there was more of a brown. “By hair color? Seriously?” she muttered, flipping over the middle bed’s blankets. “Black. Of course.”
“So… which of us is the oldest?” She quickly moved between the beds, flipping dusty pillows and blankets. Until finally she emptied a brown pillow case and a stone fell out onto the ground. Before she had even picked it up, she knew what she was dealing with. In the light of her lantern, it at first looked to be red just like all of the aspects she had seen. Bringing it closer to her eyes, she saw that wasn’t the whole story. It was triangular and red, but in a muted sense, almost like a warm amber or the vibrant hues of autumn leaves. For a moment, she doubted it was one of the stolen aspects.
“Vina?” Tacey called out.
Vina quickly stowed the aspect in her backpack, remembering she wasn't alone. “I’m still here,” she responded. She gave the room a final once-over. Her mother wanted her here, but it didn't solve her current predicaments. The Kaliters were gone, there was no identifiable means to destroy Langternem or relay Stine’s message to them, and her armor's decision remained unresolved.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured to the armor. “I don’t know how to keep my promise. Should I just leave you here?”
She received a rib-jab in response, though its meaning was unclear. She returned to the main hall.
“There’s nothing here,” Tacey declared, upon seeing her.
“I know!” Vina snapped. Taking a calming breath, she absorbed the reality of her situation. Resolving her binding quest was looking to be impossible. "How do I end a binding quest?"
Tacey shook her head solemnly. “I don’t know. Maybe our historical records can help. We have ways to deal with bonded objects. Haco can manage bonding sickness. There might be an overlap. But quests are different. They are our choices, not something chosen for us.”
“I didn’t choose this!” Vina shot back.
Tacey looked away in clear frustration. “I know. I only meant…” But her voice faded before she completed her thought.
Vina looked down at her boots. The knotted feeling in her stomach had left since she entered Trina Refuge, but she knew as soon as she stepped out, it would return. The ache would be a constant reminder of the limited time she had to figure out the quest before it would force her back here again or outright kill her.
"The good news," Tacey began, her voice a blend of concern and feigned reassurance, "is that you can stay inside one of Trina's Refuges until we figure out how to help you. The quest probably can’t kill you if you stay inside. You'll be safe as long as you don't venture out."
Vina didn't need to ask Tacey why her vibrance was slowly filling with glee. The Twelve's offer of cooperation had been a ruse all along. "This was a trap from the beginning," she told herself. The Kaliters may not have harmed her for being here, but Siany had ensnared her with this quest. Now, soon The Twelve would know she couldn’t travel. Stuck inside a refuge, she wouldn't be able to search for her mother or sisters. No wonder Tacey was pleased - Vina’s journey was coming to an end.