Chapter 27—Obelisk
“I see.” Corrosion hissed as Peter concluded a vision.
The young man held an arrowhead between his fingers as glowing eyes dimmed, surprised that he could look back even without a soul. Fiona smiled as if she asked him to make dinner, knowing he'd always do it better than her. The memory was of the one named King fighting against Brigid's aid, Julius. He didn't understand why the retelling was necessary, but Corrosion heard what it needed to hear. It slunk away after that, scurrying down the building they perched upon to punch through the glass.
Fiona nodded as if the job was done, but Peter looked at the arrowhead, unsure what to do next. Rashawn looked at it too, and Peter could see curiosity in his eyes; a question was on the tip of his tongue. Looking back at Fiona, he all but asked it himself, and she nodded as she heard it loud and clear.
“I already told you two about Refraction but let me blow away some of the fog on it. I want you to think of your…”
“Luminance.” Rashawn offered.
“Yeah, Luminance. Think of it as a ball of light, and Refraction as a hexagram. At each point you get one of the forms, Forging, Bending, Guiding, etc. Favoring is when that ball of light grows out to one point or another. As you grow older your Luminance grows bigger, but getting it to touch all points is extremely difficult. Even with Azure Coast training, I only favor four of them. Two tends to be the standard for everyone else.”
“Guiding and Bestowing.” Rashawn raised his hand.
“Guiding and Bending.” Peter raised his.
“There are ways to simulate the other points too. Rashawn, you for example are very good at using your Guiding to draw on illuminating and Bestowing for Forging. That might be the power of the Painted dog, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re close to favoring four yourself. Everyone else isn’t so lucky. They have to depend on Prayers to use other forms, basically asking a God to move their Luminance for them. At some point that’ll change how much you favor, but that takes a long time.”
“I don’t really get what this has to do with the vision.” Peter replied. “Thanks for the lesson though.”
“You’re welcome. The reason I bring it up is that Corrosion’s tools breaks the rules. That thing in its chest connects directly to its Luminance, and the band on its arm grants control. It can favor whatever Refraction point it wants, and considering what Corrosion is, its Luminance was already malleable.”
Rashawn nodded. “But it doesn’t know anything about that band, right? From what Peter saw though, King does. And Corrosion is going to learn from him.”
“Yeah. It told me it gave a halo to him to see how he’d unlock its potential. King picked up the bands fast too. Corrosion feels like it got the last piece of a puzzle now, and when it’s done eating, we’re heading to the Spear of Hell to put the puzzle together.”
“Why does it need to eat?” Peter asked. “You said both of us eat light, but this is the fourth time it stopped.”
“On top of that, what is Corrosion?”
“It doesn’t need to eat. It just has this hunger. It has a strong sense for where demons are and it hunts them down. As for what it is…” Fiona crossed her arms. “With our lights, we are human. Without them, we turn into gray husks, like the Baleful and the Vengeful. Corrosion has both, but uses someone else’s body. I guess you could call it a Ghost.”
A horrified cry echoed out from the building. Corrosion's hunger was likely sated again.
“What does Corrosion want at the Spear of Hell?” Peter asked.
“To fulfill the Crimson Forecast.”
Corrosion’s light stretched out of the hole, foretelling its approach. It was time to continue forward…
⁘⁛⁘
The Numbers reached their destination early in the morning of the next day. For everyone outside of New York, the sun would peek over the horizon in a few hours, but inside there was only the darkness and the otherworldly spear stretching into the sky.
Up close they could see the wear and tear of its perpetual use. It wasn't entirely solid, looking more like thickly woven glass threads layered sheet after sheet. Large pieces were missing from its body, but their wreckage did not lay within the dark pool around it. There was no door, but a loud feeling told them they couldn't climb it from the outside. Micaela and Khalaf made no sign of hearing it themselves, but the Numbers looked at the obelisk as if it stretched to other planets. They looked at each other, and then at the researcher determined to follow them inside. With a nod, Fang took the lead, wading through the darkness to the spear’s base. No door awaited, but as they grew closer the glass threads pulled apart, opening a portal into the abyss.
“Can I just say that the Spear of Hell sounds like something we shouldn’t be messing with?” Micaela asked, more than a little terrified when her flashlight touched the darkness and gave nothing back.
“It doesn’t matter.” King said. “This was the next step for the Dark Disciples in New Dawn’s plan.”
“Fair, but are we sure New Dawn aren’t villains too?” The Numbers looked at her. “It’s a fair question. My home turned out to be ruled by bad guys, I’m wary now.”
Fang looked down for a moment but shook her head, leveling her sight anew.
“I don’t think they are.” She looked to the obelisk. “They don’t even know what we’re supposed to do here, and if it’s some part of a malicious plan, I don’t think they would have hidden it. Our options are to either step inside or go back with the little we have.”
“Which is a lot!” Micaela smiled. “But maybe not enough? I don’t know, that God Eternal thing sounds bad, and we didn’t really win in the Castle, did we?” She shook her head. “All right it’s whatever, I’m on the team. If we’re following the leader then lead away.” She nodded.
Fang stepped inside.
For the others she disappeared; the inside felt like she stepped out of the city. The ceiling vanished into the darkness above her head, where small balls of white fire twinkled like stars. Their rays only touched the ground, the rest of it erased by the shadows around them. She stepped further into the shallow spotlight, realizing that her breathing changed as she exhaled. The air didn't leave her lungs. Holding her breath had no effect either. Breathing was unnecessary in here. It seemed that life was free. She turned around to share this with the others and her eyes went wide. Everyone was sinking, descending into the floor as if it was a viscous liquid. She summoned Lounger, whipping tendrils out. They passed through flesh and bone, and King and Ace shook their heads.
“Go on!” Ace called. “Maybe this is supposed to happen.” His descent reached his chest, but there was nothing painful about it.
“If you can still walk in this place and we’re going down, you should see what happens when you head up.” King was about the same, more curious than remotely afraid. Khalaf had dived back inside his body, but there was a thread of symbols tying him and Micaela together. She wasn’t as happy about this situation, but she kept her lips pressed, clearly biting back a scream.
Fang could only watch as they disappeared. The floor was solid for her, and neither tapping nor stomping made a difference. She turned her attention to the walls instead, reaching out as she moved to the nearest one. It was cold to the touch and electric, stinging her hand with a buzzing request. The wall was waiting like her shadows had before, listening for a command she didn't know to give. Her first thought was to make it return the others, but she considered what King said, and looked back to the white fire constellation. She made a platform beneath her feet, and by her will, it rose like an elevator. It stopped as she pulled her hand away, closing her eyes. Something about this feeling made her listen for the question, and as it once again played its meaningless sounds, she shook her head. This was the limit of what she could do. The elevator would rise, but she had to accept that it would be slow.
⁘⁛⁘
King resigned himself to the fall.
This feeling was familiar, like leaving Gupta's domain. He wondered if this process was somehow the same, and wondered how long it'd go on, when his feet touched a floor. Micaela slid from the ceiling behind him, and Khalaf rose from his body and whistled as he looked around. King followed his eyes.
They were in a corridor. Hands stuck out around them, holding torches lit with white fire, leading down to a door at other end. King touched the wall at his back and watched it ripple. He plunged his head inside and found a sea of darkness awaiting.
Follow the torches then?
He supposed that was the best choice. The corridor wasn’t long. The door opened as they grew closer. Piercing the darkness dropped them into a room, where a chair hovered over a platform rising from the floor. He headed for it, as Micaela looked around and Khalaf floated over to her.
“I don’t keep change on me, so I can’t give you a penny for your thoughts.”
“Good, because I would have to return it. I don’t know what’s going through my mind.” She looked at the wall behind her, and the hands lighting this room. “I’m not certain, but are those souls?” She looked at the torches. Khalaf floated up and nodded.
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“They most certainly are, but all of them are lacking a certain touch.”
“Their Luminance, right?”
“Bingo!” Khalaf pinched his chin. “I wonder why that is.”
“Well, New Dawn drew the Luminance out of souls who didn’t hear the obelisk’s call, right? Maybe this room is how you became a Refracted Harbinger.”
“A good theory, but its unfortunately wrong. That process required a bit of math on New Dawn’s part, and it happened at their lab.”
“If not here then where did their Luminance go?”
Structures suddenly rose upon the platform, building a mock version of New York City. Micaela looked at it, reminded immediately of the way Castle Cerulean broke it into a grid. By her memory, they were in S-17. On the "map," rivers of light flowed down the streets, separating pieces with no regard to symmetry.
In the floating chair, King considered her question. There were plenty of souls sitting around them, and maybe more in the spear than they would ever know. New Dawn certainly didn’t take all of the light from them, but could he say it was their Luminance that filled the streets? And if so, why? He typed upon the pane and the rivers rose into bulbs, dotting the city with flares of all shapes and sizes.
Micaela was reminded of neon signs on a rainy night. “This doesn’t surprise you at all?” She looked up at King’s blank face.
“I feel like I’ve been here before.”
“Well, that shocks me and creeps me out.”
“But I find it fascinating.” Khalaf floated over. “Micaela, could I borrow a penny?”
King’s eyes moved through the city. “I think it was before the Enclave found me; maybe before they could find me.” He thought about the lost kid his was, not frightened but alone out there. How did it even happen? “I haven’t really thought about what the Overcast was. I know that the spear pulled apart the God Eternal, and that there are shining hearts all over...” He typed something upon the pane and parts of the city rose above the others. “But I’m starting to think the Overcast isn’t just the border of the Twilight Grove.” He typed again and the map returned to normal. “There’s some sort of system to it.”
“I can’t even wrap my head around this.” Micaela frowned.
What was the Twilight Grove again? The home of the Second Society? Then what did that make the border? What did it mean that King was in a place like this before?
“Khalaf,” King called. He typed and two blue buildings rose above the city. “Can you connect those two?”
The man shrugged and obliged, dipping his finger into one light as he made a line to the other. He reeled back as they crashed together. Both he and Micaela looked at King. The Number typed away, lifting the shining wreckage to his eyes. A smile crept across his face in the blue glow. The two looked at each other.
Khalaf's confusion alarmed Micaela the most.
King pondered what he had just seen.
This wasn't just a black glass depiction of New York. It wasn’t just a clever means by which to monitor the city. This was New York—every street and corner shrunk down into something he could move with his bare hands. This was complete control of a city so large he couldn’t imagine all its turns. His seat was a seat of power, and whoever sat on it before had so much at their disposal. He typed until he was sure he found Castle Cerulean and stared with godlike scrutiny.
Could he steal their light from here? Could he have Khalaf connect it to another place and swipe their joy right before their eyes? He lifted Cerulean a bit more, but stopped short of lifting it high above the city. This seat did have power, but hesitation took root as he wondered why it sat empty. Between the Royal family and New Dawn itself, there was no reason someone wouldn’t try to fill it. There was still more to learn.
His eyes turned back to the glowing wreckage.
His fingers dragged across his pane.
An enlarged version of the light lit the screen. One part of it was ocean and the other was sky, whirling together into a hurricane of turmoil. Or a battle of supremacy. He touched the light and clenched his seat as he almost fell in, breathing heavily as he pulled his hand back. Below, Micaela and Khalaf gaped.
“What just happened, King?" The researcher asked.
King had to consider that before he answer. “The book of New Dawn described the Luster as the Undead Memory of the First Society. When I heard Gupta say that, I didn’t understand what he meant. He talked about how a Pantheon tended to the Luster too. But considering the First left it behind, I wasn’t sure I understood.”
“Right. Okay. I was also confused about that. If you’re leaving something for others because you can’t stay, how exactly are you tending to it? Why would you?”
“Well… I think I get it now.” King looked at the walls—at the obelisk. He thought he knew what this place was too. “Khalaf, how would you define undead?”
Khalaf dropped to the floor and held his hands out. He put on a show, shambling back and forth with a leg dragging behind himself as he groaned and swiped at the air. He took a bow when he stopped, but got no standing ovation.
“No clue what zombies are?” He raised an eyebrow at them. “I mean, I guess with the Grays running around, zombies are a bit out of fashion. All right then, with undeads I think of reanimated corpses. Things that are supposed to be dead but are given new life.”
“The Luster is the undead memory of the first society, tended to by a Pantheon of the First.” King repeated. “If the three of us tried to leave a single Luminance behind, I don’t think it’d work. Divorced from either of us, it’d be a dead light.”
“But the First Society had the ability to reanimate it!” Micaela exclaimed.
“And that’s what they did. When a Pantheon tended to the Luster, they made it a living thing. Even without them, it’d be able to share their life experience, answer any question. It might even take different forms, doing whatever it could to preserve itself. With all the power of just one member of the First, it’d be amazing. With a Pantheon? It’s no surprise it can bear multiple gods.”
“Right, but what does this all mean? What just happened to you?”
“I think I almost got pulled into a war between Gods. I only pulled away because I’m a Dark Disciple.” King stared at the light again. “Can an undead thing be killed?" He looked at Khalaf.
Khalaf mocked shooting himself in the head but shrugged.
“The movies would say it just takes a bullet to the head, but that’s zombies. Who’s to say that Luster can be killed the same way?”
King nodded. “I think I know what the obelisk is. Or maybe it’s better to say I know what a Spear of Hell is.”
“A Spear of Hell? As in there are more of them?” Micaela frowned.
“The book of New Dawn says this. Luster becomes malignant when humanity starts sacrificing people to God. They poison the light, and demons are born from it, born of humanities hatred of itself. They wipe their worshipers out…”
“But if even one of them survives, that demon will always have worshipers. People in the castle would never see the Arbiter as a demon. Even if it became one, they’d assume a demon was trying to overthrow him. The Arbiter would still be “alive” so long as someone believed he was, and they could take him where ever they went.” She held her head. “And that’s what the Klein family is for! Even when it doesn’t exist in the world, they’re keeping its memory alive!”
“How do you kill a memory that always lives in people’s minds?”
“How can you? How can you kill a memory if you can’t kill everyone who believes in it!”
Khalaf threw his head back with laughter. “Oh, that’s terrifying! Neither Gods nor Demons would die, and because the Luster can be both, the same God could be either.”
“I think the Second Society realized that no matter how many times they kill a malignant God, it will always find a place somewhere else as a demon. That’s why they created Spears of Hell. If the spear of hell pulled the God Eternal apart, we can look at the Overcast like this. It is a prison for malignant Gods and the souls that worship them.”
“The Spear of Hell…” Khalaf grinned. “Raised in opposition to God, wielded by those who stand against him…”
“And when the spear was summoned, New York City was cast into the border of the Twilight Grove…" Micaela wasn't grinning; her illuminating mind taking her to where King now sat. "The Overcast is hell...”
King nodded. “And spears wounds gods, keeping them too weak to leave it.”
“Except, the castle showed us that that won’t last for long. Especially if someone has a plan for them.”
Khalaf was absolutely giddy. “And my experience shows us that Cerulean isn’t the only place with deals and plans for gods.”
“So if the spear is meant to wound and the Overcast is meant to trap, why do we have anything to worry about?” Micaela shot.
“You saw how the obelisk looked on the outside. The Spear is breaking, that's why there was no one in this room. But there used to be. That's why it’s so familiar.” King couldn't remember a face, but a shadow body stood in his memory. If he was a disciple, that meant he had a Master. “I think my Master once stood in this room.” He looked at New York and then the band on his arm. It wasn't a coincidence that the Luminance band was black. Nor that this seat remained empty. It was wise King didn’t tamper with Castle Cerulean, he didn’t think it’d be as simple as stealing the Arbiter away. With the band, he’d be more like his Master, and he didn’t know the full scope of what that meant. He didn’t even know if New Dawn had a clue how important these bands would be.
He leaped down from the chair, startling the woman.
“Are...we done here?" The terror was still in her voice, but she was doing her best to hide it.
“We’re done in this room, but there are others like it. For humanity to stand a chance when this place falls, we have to complete the Luminance Hacker.”
“We? I mean, I’m not backing down now, but I seem more involved than before.”
King nodded. “I’ll need Khalaf’s help and yours. He can’t become one again, and I never could. Micaela, we’re going to make you into a Refracted Harbinger…”
[Chapter 27 ends...]