Closer to the fire and further away from home, Abigail walked. Her understanding of the intentions of her surrounding was childish, she wouldn't know what others wanted from her. Time was not on anyone's side. The grand clock ticked like a doomsday reminder, every second stole any integrity those behind the wooden doors felt, the red hours begun.
I. The Church Of White.
Abigail held Miles' hand as she followed him blindly. It wasn't long till he stopped at a certain spot. He kicked the ground with his leg. "That's it." He panted. "Where are we going?" Abigail asked in distress. "Down the tunnels, to the church." He looked at her with an excited warm smile. Abigail gulped as she looked at him removing the snow off a portal. The portal had the same sign engraved on Miles' gloves. "You go first." He ordered her as he removed the lid, Abigail hesitated. "Listen to the grand clock." He looked up. "The red hours begun." He continued. Abigail didn't know what the red hours were, but as she noticed the change in the rhythm of the grand clock and how its sound became louder and grimmer, she jumped into the portal.
Down the tunnel, the bleak darkness activated Abigail's night vision which she never knew she had. "Strange.." She uttered. She could see a long straight road, skulls hanging on the walls with candles inside them. Although she could see everything, Miles couldn't and so, he lit every candle along the way making this peculiar tunnel's details emerge.
"What am I looking at.." Abigail gasped as she noticed what the walls were. "These are catacombs." Miles explained, "These are real skulls?" She wondered, "Of course, they are!" He replied, "By the ending of this tunnel, you'll see the skull of the last American soldier from the united nations that tried to attack us." Miles enthusiastically said, Abigail's face grew pale.
It was very narrow, very eerie and somehow loud. It felt like those skulls possessed sentient voices that fought for freedom, they didn't wish to be here. Abigail's mind was troubled, she wondered if Carvo was looking for her, but did she wish to be with him again?
After thirty minutes of walking, Miles stopped. "There it is." Miles said, Abigail could see the door that marked the ending of those catacombs that Abigail suffocated in. "Now, look at that." Miles pointed at the last skull in the first row. This one had a date engraved on it
"19th of May 1980, Henry West." Abigail traced the carvings with her finger. "American scum. Tried to blow the city from the inside, we caught him, hung him in the public square till he died of dehydration." Miles boasted, and Abigail seemed horrified. "We, the white sect, proudly retrieved his decaying body and put it in our catacombs for years. A reminder for the impure outsiders and their attempts at interfering in our affairs." Miles proudly smiled as Abigail's face grew even more pale. She looked at the gate in subtle nervousness, unaware of what lied beyond it, and what it meant for her to join those anomalous faction. All that she knew was that Miles was the only one who never gasped at the sight of her.
Abigail took few steps back as Miles stood in front of the heavy iron gate. He inserted a silvery key and swiftly opened it to reveal another hallway with a door much closer.
"How long do we have to keep going?" Abigail asked. "I can't go on like this." She complained. "Its right there."He pointed. "Can't you hear it?" He continued. As Abigail walked closer to the other door, her ears caught the bewildering chant of the white church. An angelic hymn that seduced the ones behind that door. The words where of a language she never heard before, but that voice was enough to pull Abigail in without any hesitation.
"Are you ready?" Miles asked as they stood in front of the last door, a white one with the same silver star engraved on it. The chanting was louder than Abigail's weariness and fear, she nodded, thrilled to see what lied behind that door. Miles lift his right hand and without taking off his glove, he put his hand in the middle of that silver star. Not long after, the mechanics of this door were unscrewed and the church was right in front of them.
Abigail fell in the grace of comfort. She couldn't force those iron lips to utter a word. She was greeted by less than twenty pair of eyes, all gazing at her without showing slight fear. The woman still sang at the alter with her back turned against the attendants. This place was not beautiful, but it was interesting. All those symbols, the intense prevailing of white and silver in every detail, the union of the uniforms those men and women wore. There was something strange about their hideout, their symbols and those chants. Abigail knew right away that those were people of a religion she hardly knew, but after that warm welcome, how dare she speak?
"Welcome to our church, the church of white!" Miles voice echoed in the church as he gently held Abigail's hand and guided her to the alter where the singing woman stopped yet didn't turn around yet.
In a strange moment of silence, and as Miles let Abigail go up the alter by herself, she witnessed the attendants kneeling down for her, all silently whispering words she couldn't understand. Abigail climbed the stairs eager to see the lady in white. Dressed in a long white gown encrusted in tiny pieces of silver stars.
"Is it her?" She asked.
"Its her, its number thirty three." Miles replied.
II. The Twilight Reverie.
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In the busy headquarters in the north of Boneclad, the telephones kept buzzing as the communication between all parts of the city became stronger. It was hard for the forces to be separated searching for the chip, catching the white sect members, finding Brando and preparing for the battle. It was chaotic, the legions were very small in numbers.
The spirits were shaken, and the minds were battling all except for one, Ivanka. As soon as the red hours had begun, Ivanka gathered her equipment which were still kept in her old locker in the headquarters she left a decade ago. She jumped on her bike and ignored Dunken's request to stay behind, completely distrusting his ability to solve this on his own.
"That bastard, still think he's the top." Ivanka muttered as she rode her bike and headed towards a certain destination. "I know who the top is." She talked to herself. Ivanka was very irritated by the encounter with Dunken and the betrayal of her assistant, Nelly, whom she had trusted for years.
Finally, Ivanka had reached her destination. The warehouse where the twilight reverie was kept. This time, she had accepted the presence of three guards on the main door, but refused that any of them to accompany her inside. She quickly made her way in with her equipment in her bag.
"I need to make sure." Ivanka spoke as she approached the crystal ball in the midst of the twilight reverie.
The Twilight Reverie, also named the jolter by Ivanka, was as a striking piece of art as it was a powerful tool of destruction against the Mooncallers. The chip, safely protected inside a crystal sphere, would interact with the broadcasting towers across the city, powered by the energy supplied from the electricity current flowing through the cables connecting Boneclad. The chip was the vital part of this powerful mechanism, as it transmitted a shocking wave that would send certain types of Mooncallers into a state of stasis that would last for a few minutes where humans would finally have an advantage.
The chip was the vital part of this powerful mechanism, as it transmitted a shocking wave that would send certain types of Mooncallers into a state of stasis that would last for a few minutes where humans would finally have an advantage [https://img.wattpad.com/9814dece212fcd47d86d240ddd1a0c607fa2048b/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6d4865686c394b6e58585a6254773d3d2d313130383832393830302e313639386333633337333231626664323132393536373531383438332e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Ivanka slowly approached the broken sphere where the chip was taken from [https://img.wattpad.com/2ebc1c3040948a25226d0585bfce51fd6e067d5e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f62736e31306d35765644613930673d3d2d313130383832393830302e313639386333633536306333333038663131313331363938363239372e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Ivanka slowly approached the broken sphere where the chip was taken from. She extracted her equipment and examined the fingerprints in hope of catching the full image of the assault. "How dare you break my love like that." Ivanka sobbed over the broken sphere as she swapped the fingerprints using a very small device that showed the fingerprints of not only Nelly, but another person.
"That bitch!" Ivanka cursed. "She wasn't alone!" She stormed out of the warehouse and to the guards.
"Take this, tell Dunken to see whose fingerprints are these. They aren't mine, tell him to find a match." Ivanka ordered the guard who quickly called for backup and went on his way.
"Time to go find you, Nelly. The White Church, now I believe it exists." Ivanka spoke.
Ivanka had made her mind. Infiltrating Nelly's house for clues on where The White Church might be, there's no doubt that this is where Nelly and her accomplices would be hiding alongside the chip, while she searched Nelly's house, Dunken would find the identity of the second perpetrator and thus, potentially finding an interrogation target.
III. The Red Hours.
The red hours would begin once the officials decide the danger was close. It was marked by the grim ticking of the grand clock, a slight yet dark change in the rhythm followed by two loud bell chimes. It was the alert for the residents to hide in their basements and arrange their food supply and weaponry. That sound led a horrible nightmare for the children and heavy distress for the adults. The waiting was excruciating, every fullmoon, once the red hours start, loud pistol bangs would be heard from many houses. So many people died from their fear, rationally thinking, a bullet to the head would be merciful than getting eaten alive, perhaps even stolen and turned into a mindless ghoul.
Carvo and the inspectors had been given the full news. Brando was right underneath them, and the twilight reverie had been stolen. Not only were the inspectors terrified, they could hardly muster the thought of encountering a Mooncaller. Those spoiled inspectors were one of the many factions living in the north of the city, sheltered from the continuous attacks. Carvo, on the other hand, had decided to set up a trap for Brando to lure him out with the help of the few legion soldiers he had.
In front of the hole Brando dug, Carvo stood and measured the size of that hole only to come to a strange conclusion. "We are looking for a thing the size of a head." Carvo spoke and the eyes around him widened. "How is that possible?" One of the soldiers gulped. "Well, from my experience, this one hardly has anything thing resembling a human." Carvo rubbed his chin. "Its only a brain, perhaps something more complicated." Carvo continued as the soldiers' face turned pale. "So..This did all of that?" One soldier fearfully asked. "Yes! And I'd like to warn you, as we stand above this hole, it could jump right at us, perhaps steal a new body!" Carvo spoke lightly of the situation while his companions were terrified of the thought.
"Listen, all of you." Carvo turned around to see the nervous, closely-packed faces. "The plan is to send a drown after it, catch it. This thing is defi-" Carvo paused, as he looked to the group of the soldiers surrounding him, he saw blood dripping from a certain soldier. "Sorry, I felt a bit dizzy. Moving on, the drone would be strong enough to shock it." Carvo inspected the very strange soldier. Her eyes were hollow, her teeth were missing and her posture was crocked. Carvo's awareness of how a shapeshifter operates is limited, but the sight of that soldier sent his mind into a shock.
Either this was a new enemy, or Brando had been among them all along.