Chapter 25
How they managed to get in wasn’t on Paul’s mind at that moment, all that mattered now was that there was a large gate, not even a cadami sword could cut through, between him and the Amani. Time was beyond short now. The mercenaries would only be able to hold out for so long, then the escape plan would go right down the hole.
“Whoa…” Abel said as he strolled around.
The Cathedral certainly had earned its namesake. It looked like the grand sanctuaries the Cri monks worshiped in...if it were designed by some alien architect with a fixation on jagged angles. The ceiling towered high above in a triangular shape, all made from the same silver metal. Ahead natural light poured in from a circular room, a red glass walkway led all the way to a sleek podium that stood at the very center.
“Come Reyleonard, we must move quickly,” Paul said as he drew his rifle. Eights warbled an affirmative, and Abel nodded. The circular room looked large enough to pass as a landing pad, sunlight shown through massive wall-sized windows, which was odd considering there were no windows on the outside. Looking up, a shaft stretched what appeared to be a mile up; climbing was out of the question. Paul surmised they must be standing on an elevator, but the podium at the center was blank, and there were no discernable controls.
“Eights, can you find a way to get this working?” The little drone hovered about searching feverishly for the correct mechanism, but there was nothing. Paul was already developing a solid irritation for whoever decided building doors and elevators without apparent ways to use them was a good idea.
Quizzically, Paul examined the podium more closely and was reminded about the perfectly smooth surface of the star map. He tried touching it and even falling into a light meditative trance again, but the elevator didn’t budge. “Eights, anything?” The drone came back negative. Then he looked to Abel, hardly daring to believe it. “Reyleonard, you try.”
“I doubt that I’ll be able to-what, but how?” At Abel’s touch, the podium sprang to life with a cyan holographic display. With a loud echoing grown, they began ascending.
“It would seem the Cathedral’s inner workings respond to you.” Paul began. “Why is that?” Had Abel managed to keep a secret? Perhaps his abilities had been underestimated.
“How should I know?” Abel shot back, his blue eyes steeped with confusion, or maybe it was fear. Paul hardly needed his powers to sense the boy was telling the truth.
Further and further, they ascended; they could see Kanchi shrinking beneath them. The Amani soldiers were fighting their way to the Cathedral, but the mercenaries ferociously held them back. Soon however, they were all tiny dots far below, the colors of red and blue plasma bolts were a distant light show. They were well past even the highest mountain peaks Ever further they ascended, even higher than the dog fighting starships carving through the hazy smoke addled air. Paul thought they might start seeing clouds.
Abel was stalk still, silent, and his eyes were unconcerned with the breathtaking view. Determination, elation, or fear even should have been plastered across his face; in his mind, his goal was about to be within reach. At least that’s what he should have been thinking. The only explanation for his behavior: he knew the truth.
Ramona would have gone on a tirade over lesser revelations, Paul would afford the boy of the truth, there would not be hiding it much longer anyway. “Owlen is dead.”
“I know,” he said, not breaking his stoic demeanor. “I think I knew the moment I laid eyes on the Cathedral, there’s no way he could have ended up in here, but I wanted to believe so badly. Rex confirmed my suspicions when we met at Owlen’s base; she hacked a terminal. I watched footage of Ramona electrocuting him till he erupted into flames.”
Sickening memories of Ramona’s charred hand surfaced on Paul’s mind, which he shoved back down immediately. “Then why are you here?”
“Because I can’t go back empty-handed,” his voice cracked. He turned, hardly willing to make eye contact with anything but the floor. “Everyone in the Tuyet Voi thinks I killed the Empress, but I didn’t do it, she was my own mother!” He was on the verge of tears now, the battle-driven adrenaline was wearing off, and his hormones were influx; he was tasting the bitterness of defeat. Paul would have to let the boy run his course. “Of course, no one believes me, certainly not my father. He was happy to take the throne and protect me from criminal charges, but I know he thinks I did it; he blames me for it and hates me for it. Only my fellow Progenitors know the truth, but not even one would dare cross the Emperor. Bringing back something, anything, is better than confirming my father’s belief that my existence is a mistake.” A tear dripped down his cheek; it was clear he was trying with all his might to hold back more.
“The contents of the Cathedral belong to me, let’s not forget.” Paul looked at Abel almost as if he were looking at Ramona. “But, we shall see about imparting something of value to you.”
The strain in Abel’s face faded. He wiped the tears from his face and braved eye contact with Paul. “You’ve grown soft Nefarous, not sure it suits you,” he said, voice still recovering. “Thank you.”
“Yes, well, we are walking into an unknown. I can’t have you sulking about should a fight break out.”
Finally, the elevator came to a halt; they had made it to the very top. Paul, Abel, and Eights took just a moment to take in the sights. Paul took off his helmet and clipped it to his belt to see with his own eyes. Stretching for what could have been hundreds of miles was Kanchi’s great mountain ranges, and the city below looked like a child’s playset.
“Enough,” Paul said, breaking away and started down a tall, lonely corridor.
Beyond was surely the place Paul had been seeking. They entered a room that somehow looked larger than the entrance, but here the bright silver gave way to black walls lined with sinister red lights. A long narrow walkway with glassy black obelisks and blue flames on either side stretched over a dark chasm. Paul peeked over the edge into the blackness and suspected the fall probably lead all the way back to the ground floor.
A holoprojector large enough to land a starfighter on sat center on a silver mesa. It showed the holographic images of three swirling galaxies in the same impeccable detail as the star map. One of the galaxies, Paul knew, was the Umlenze, home. Above were their two closest neighbors, colliding, melding with each other in cataclysmic fashion, as they had for centuries: the Hallur and Massodona galaxies.
The whole place looked like some sort of shrine; torn pieces of colorful fabric, silver jewelry, and leather shoes surrounded the holo-table like they were offerings or part of some strange ritual.
On the other side of the projector were dozens of monitors, and cables covered the floor like a tangled web; it all looked out of place in the symmetrical shrine. Strangely, the computers looked to be hundreds of years old; their displays were faded green, lacking the definition of any holo-terminal Paul had worked on his entire life.
“Eights, do you think you can interface with these old things? Grab everything you can from them,” Paul said, and the drone chirped happily and went to work at once. This wasn’t exactly what he was expecting. Where was the obelisk? Was there really nothing more than a projector and a bunch of old terminals?
There was a flicker, the holo projection of the three galaxies vanished. Paul and Abel turned to regard the change of light, and both got the sense that was not a good thing. Mechanisms on the projection table began to revolve at such incredible speeds that it resembled the revving of a freighter engine. Then in an instant, it stopped with a snap, and a huge pulsating black sphere appeared. Somehow it looked both three-dimensional and two-dimensional simultaneously- as if it was a hole floating in space. An uncanny feeling of DeJa’Vu came over Paul.
A beam of orange light shot out from the sphere onto Abel’s forehead. At first, he just turned to Paul with an eyebrow raised as if wondering how much weirder could things get. But, his demeanor changed in an instant, his face tensed, eyes scrunched. He clutched his head, fell to one knee, then collapsed to the ground without so much as a whimper.
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“Reyleonard!” Paul approached cautiously with his sword drawn. He knelt to check Abel’s pulse, but there was none. Dead, but how?
Metal footsteps came from behind, a red metallic figure with shimmering orange eye slits; it was Reyleonard’s drone. Paul stood up and raised his sword. “How did you get inside?”
“Oh Abel,” Rex said ignoring Paul’s question, her orange eyes stared down at the lifeless boy. “It breaks my heart that you had to die like this,” she looked up at Paul, “it’s just so eerie how much he looks like the rest.”
“Answer me drone. What are you doing here?”
Rex looked at the floating black sphere. “I fulfilled my end of the bargain, and Omega got what he wanted in the end,” she said, nudging Abel’s body with her foot. “You,” Rex pointed at Paul, “you are an anomaly. Oh- I wish I could see the look on his face when he finds out about you. Have you ever seen an astrobeing get angry? Let’s just say we’re both lucky Omega is nowhere near here.”
So Olasqy really wasn’t kidding about Omega being an astrobeing, or this drone had just as many loose screws. Divine beast or not, Omega was still responsible for a murder. Paul needed to know the truth. “Omega’s servant. Tell me, were you the one that recruited Owlen to murder Ramona’s mother?”
“I prefer indentured contractor, but yes, that was me,” Rex said casually. “My job was to get Abel right here in this sanctuary, had to be him, he’s the only one that can open these things up you see, or activate them more appropriately. It took seven awfully long years, but it’s finally done. We had to wait until he was of age, you see.” She nudged Abel’s lifeless body again. “Er...not sure why to be honest.”
“Why would Omega want Marth...Laura dead?” Paul asked as evenly as he could, his heart beat so quickly it almost hurt. He didn’t care about why Omega wanted Abel; the drone was now Paul’s most hated enemy. He was dangerously close to lashing out and cutting Rex down.
“Efficiency,” Rex stated as if talking about the weather. “Omega wanted revenge on her husband, Asahi, and he also used it as a means to bring Abel here. I bet he didn’t know they had a child, or he’d probably have me kill her too.”
Reflexively Paul gripped his sword, teeth clenched, breath wild. “Why would Omega want revenge?” He growled.
Rex sighed and said, “listen, if you want answers, why don’t you ask him yourself?” Rex knowingly pressed a series of holographic buttons on the giant holoprojector, and its inner workings began to stir. “I’ll be taking my leave now, I’m sick of this place.” Rex knelt and took Abel’s sword. “Ah-you know what, I better...” Rex unsheathed the sword revealing its blue radiance. Paul readied himself for an oncoming attack, falling into a fighting stance. But no attack came. Rex put a foot on Abel’s back and sliced his right arm off just below the elbow.
“What the-, “ Paul said aghast but didn’t let his guard down.
Rex sheathed the sword and picked up Abel’s freshly severed arm, cauterized from the blade's intense heat. Paul had to stifle a gag; the stench of Ramona’s disintegrated hand smelled exactly the same.
“In case I need it for later, you never know,” Rex said, shaking the arm back and forth. “Do yourself a favor, get out of here. A cruiser is on its way to level the Cathedral. Take whatever secrets Omega might be hiding. I don’t care anymore.” Whether Rex was lying or not, Paul could not tell.
“And why should I let you leave, drone?” Paul said, ready to strike.
Rex scoffed, “drone, right.” She reached up and pulled her head off, underneath was the face of a woman. She had short ashen hair, dull red eyes, and her skin was pale white with small hexagonal deformities all over. She looked young, about the same as Abel, but not only did she seem the same age, but she bore a shocking resemblance to him as well.
A sister?
“Disguising myself as a drone was my idea,” Rex said with a clear yet cold human voice. “Abel was more likely to trust a machine since most of the humans in his life hated him. And besides, acting as a killer drone was so much fun. I’m glad I got to tell at least one person about it.”
Seeing that Rex was actually a human was of minor consequence, Paul aimed his sword at her. “Drone or no drone, I’ll still cut you down all the same.”
Rex’s red eyes rolled. “Let’s not go down that path...because I’d kill you, Nefarous,” she said darkly. Her mind stirred, ready to fight.
But before any moves were made, terrible screeches erupted from beneath the platform; clicks, scrapes, and pounding echoed in the sanctuary. It sounded like it had started to rain outside. Paul spun around. He knew the screams instantly, they were as irreversibly seared into his mind just as much as the nightmares Ramona had given him. Monstrous grey-skinned humanoids covered in luminescent tubing with glowing orange eyes began creeping over the railings, the same creatures from city-ship on Movaj. They amassed on the walkway, completely blocking any hope of escape, more and more appeared from the dark depths, but they made no moves to attack. Instead, every soul-piercing eye was on Paul, their grotesque raspy breathing hungered.
The walkway was narrow, the monsters were bunched up, easy pickings for a cadami blade. Killing many of them would not be an issue; killing enough of them before getting overwhelmed by a wall of razor-sharp claws would be. Paul figured there would be no one to rescue him this time.
“What are these things, Rex?” When Paul turned, Rex was on the other side of the holo-projector ascending a small lift, her back turned. But, then who was standing in front of the projector?
“Reyleonard?” Paul said, now trying to split his guard between the monsters on one side and the boy, standing quietly unphased by his missing arm, on the other. Paul glared. He was confident the boy was dead, not that he looked very alive. He just stood there, head and shoulders drooped slightly.
“Reyleonard, what’s wrong with you?”
No reply.
Behind Abel, the mechanical inner workings of the holo-projector churned once more, then came to an abrupt stop. “You are not of Reyleonard decent,” a voice boomed from the black sphere, its voice dark as the frigid void of space, the voice of a machine. The unmistakable presence of an entity poured from the orb like an icy wind, not human or alien, it was fiendish.
Hardly content the ravenous grey-skinned creatures would not attack, Paul braved his attention to the sphere, sword still drawn. “Are you the Cathedral’s interface?”
“Progenitor of the chosen race, you desecrate these grounds, stumbling in ignorance. I dwell within a plane of existence vastly beyond your own. I am calamity, deception, death. I am Omega.”
At that moment there was no debate, no denial of the truth. Paul simply knew. For it was the power and gift of Progenitors to sense others’ emotions. Omega truly was an astrobeing. Olasqy Amuv was not so insane after all, ironic that he should be absent from this meeting. But time to process this revelation could be set aside for later, those walking abominations were still lurking nearby no doubt waiting for the command to attack.
“So, it’s true, astrobeings are real. Don’t think that means you frighten me.”
“Astrobeing. You categorize us to give form to the unknown, rudimentary creatures shrieking at the darkness. What you choose to call us is inconsequential,” it declared like a statement of fact, without assertion or pride.
Just past the holo-projector, Eights was still gathering information from the terminals. Next to those was the roof elevator. Just a bit longer. “The Obelisk on Movaj, it gave me a vision of a massive beast lording over our burning galaxy. Was that you?”
“The obelisks, constructs of a species so far beyond your own. You touch our minds, but you could not begin to fathom our ways.” Omega’s voice was unchanging, unphased by anything Paul could possibly think to say, but he wasn’t about to stop trying.
“Seems straightforward to me, you sow chaos in this galaxy, no better than Emperor Felix. And I was told you were a being of great power, but you don’t even show your true form, hiding in the shadows, hiding behind your monsters.” Paul truly felt like this supposed all-powerful being was pathetic. There was just one more thing he wanted to know. “Why did you want Laura dead?”
“Her death was inevitable. One of a trillion essential cogs in works you could not begin to comprehend,” Omega said coldly, void of remorse.
Destroying the holo-projector, slicing it into molten pieces just to make Omega shut up would have been so very satisfying. But Paul had other plans, he now knew his true purpose in life, and he wanted Omega to know it. “You know, that’s all I needed to hear. I don’t care that you come to destroy our galaxy, enslave its people, or whatever you truly plan to do.” Paul raised his sword at Omega. “Crossing me is dangerous; crossing Ramona, however, you’ll beg for death when she gets to you. We’ll drag you from the shadows and destroy you, Omega.”
“Threats, screams of the meek as they are stamped from existence.” He spoke beyond confidence or pride, but out of sheer truth, as if no effort could possibly be made against him.
“Eights, have everything?” Paul asked. The drone beeped in affirmative. A sly smile crossed Paul’s face. “You talk a lot for an all-powerful astrobeing. That data stored here now belongs to me. Your centuries of planning are wasted.”
“Your words are hollow, spoken out of ignorance. Your destruction is inevitable. We are coming.” And with that, the sphere vaporized into an ashy mist, and the frigid presence disappeared.
From behind, the monsters’ scratchy breathing stirred into growls, their claws slowly dragged across the metal floor. Paul glanced back. They stopped for a moment, then they screeched a horrific cry and broke out into a clumsy sprint. Paul was already ahead of the creatures, but Abel was still blocking the way to the elevator. His eyes snapped open, his red iris now faintly glowed orange. Inside his mind was in chaos, not human, but more like a ravenous animal.
Sorry, Reyleonard. Paul smashed the boy’s skull with the pommel of his sword, knocking him out cold and scooping him up onto his shoulder in one fluid motion. “Eights, c’mon!”
Urgent beeps and chirps erupted from Eights.
Growls and snarls were right on Paul’s heels by the time they got to the smaller elevator across from the holo-projector, but the lift refused to ascend. Several monsters managed to grab hold, but Paul kicked them off and cut a few others down with a flurry of strikes. More creatures closed in. Without even thinking, Paul grabbed Abel’s remaining hand and pressed it against a small podium on the elevator and at once, they were lifted, beyond the howls and screams, to safety.