Terra followed the group into the tunnel entrance, the walls covered in a damp material. The air became chilly as well, she could feel the cold radiate from somewhere deep inside, the frigid winds howling within. Feor scanned the walls with a tendril, readings and data flooding into Terra’s sight, revealing the reasons behind such a shift in temperature.
“The walls are coated with liquid nitrogen, trace amounts seem to be spread throughout the length of the caverns walls. Its so unnatural for this to be possible in such temperate climates no?” Feor pondered as Terra went over the data in her head.
“This seems familiar, why can’t I seem to pinpoint it?” Terra saw etchings in the walls as well, arrows and directions pointing in seemingly random directions. She pushed pass Ella and Sara to walk beside Garin, she had a feeling he might know what this is.
“Garin, I’ve been scanning the walls, I think this might-”
“It’s a cryogenics facility.”
“Wait… what?”
Garin scanned the walls as well, his steely red black eyes marking every detail as he continued, “I recognize the markings on the wall, the chill is new though. It was the same make up as the building I came out of when I woke. Its hard to forget that memory.” Garin stretched out a tendril, making a motion as if he was picking up something from the ground.
“It was the first time I realized I shared my head with someone. Tehran saved my life that day too… seems a lot of things remind me of that pain in the ass.”
Terra realized she just opened a can of worms, her voice cracked as she mentioned Tehran. Garin’s pain was easy to read as he trailed one of his tendrils along the wall, a silent scraping from the ice still stuck to it.
“Garin-”
“Don’t, as far as I am concerned, Tehran died that day. He doesn’t want to speak to me, then I am not worth his time, and he mine.”
“Garin, that’s not true and you know it,” She was on a roll, she might as well speak the truth.
“He talks to you just fine, right? What is the difference between you and me huh?” She looked him in his offsetting eyes, sighing as she did not know the answer.
“Do not speak of him in front of me, I wont hear it anymore.” He turned back to the walls, tracing his tendril as he marked it with directions.
Terra sighed as she moved ahead, her anger building in her. It was just practical, Garin seemed to blame her with those eyes everytime she remarked about his Cheruv. And to top it off, she could hear the bloody snide Cheruv, whenever Garin mentioned him.
“Typical fireheart, Garin you really need to lighten up about this. It’s not like I left for crying out loud.” Tehran spoke to her directly as she made her way down the hall ahead of the group.
“Why can’t you make him hear you?” Terra said it out loud she realized, but no less did Tehran hear her.
“Because that moronic brother of mine won’t understand the reason behind why he can’t hear me. I can’t force him and he can’t force me unless he accepts his folly.”
“Then what in the seven hells-”
“Five,”
“FIVE HELLS, does he need to do?”
Tehran became snide as he answered, “He let his anger rule over him, gave into the energy of his rage. His gifts are locked by Sate now.”
“Wait, Sate is… blocking him?”
“From hearing me yes, he stills has some abilities sure. But Sate is vengeful when it comes to using her gifts for destruction. Whenever you raise your hand against a fellow Shandori, Sate will intervene if she feels you did it for selfish reasons.”
“Garin didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t hurt anyone of us! Why would she…?” The thought came as soon as she pictured it. Garin, when she was under the hive mind’s sway, tried to murder her, burn her. Then he turned to Sara and fought her with that hate burning in him. Garin may not have meant to, but he did try to kill her and infected or not, she was still a Shandori. It finally clicked why Tehran would be affected in such a way.
“He has to ask for forgiveness from Sate, and believe, otherwise we’ll have to speak via you two if he wants my help.”
Feor interjected, “Sate can’t have meant to do that! He was lost in rage, of course he would do rash things. Why does he get such treatment when Terra and I hurt so many?”
“There was a major difference between your actions and his. You had no choice; you were both slaves to a master with cruel intentions. Garin is an Overlord, his word is the word of Sate, and his actions reflect those intents. He must stand above, he must lead with his will and strength, not with rage and hate. Sate holds him on a higher pedestal.”
Terra scoffed, “That’s bull crap! He didn’t know any of this would happen.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“I told him he should listen; I told him of Sate and her ways. He chose not to acknowledge her as our God, he chose to let his rage consume him in the Hive, he chose this path for himself. He must atone.”
Terra let the weight of this sink in her, “He doesn’t think you exist anymore Tehran, how will he know to do this?”
Tehran’s voice came as cryptic as a puzzle, “Well, if someone were to show him the way, I wonder what could happen. Just the same, I cannot help if he will not listen. So, it falls to someone else.”
Tehran’s voice left as Terra contemplated his words. Terra was sure Tehran meant she and Feor, but the how seemed to escape her. She never spoke to Sate, never knew her at all until she met Sara and Garin. How could she make him believe in something she didn’t believe herself?
Feor laughed, “So we have to convince Garin Sate exists? This should be simple enough.”
Terra cocked her head to the side, “How is this simple? Have you ever tried to convince someone somthing they can’t see exists?”
Feor smiled through her words, “And here we are, having a conversation together about the how. Convincing someone about something they can’t see existing is simple when the mind is open. Just look at us!”
Terra laughed at herself, “I think we are the exception to that rule.”
Feor shook her head, “Yeah I suppose, but that means it should be easier for us to convince him, yes?”
Terra looked back at Garin, his face glum and sorrowful as he turned down a hallway.
“Maybe we should wait until after we find out what’s down here, eh? I get the feeling he’s not very open minded right now.”
Feor agreed, “perhaps later, but we have to try one of these times.”
Feor retreated in Terra’s mind as she spun around to catch up to Garin.
Garin stopped in the middle of a large room, filled to the brim with clear tubes. Terra stopped next to him, looking at every one of the containers that seemed to be a part of the walls themselves. Garin gazed back and forth between all of them, his eyes seemed to be trying to spot something from what Terra could see. He moved from each clear tube, checking the insides as he passed over a multitude of pods. Sara followed in suit, checking the other side for something as well. Terra did not understand what they were after so she began to follow them. She moved to Sara and asked,
“What are these things?” She raced with Sara as she checked each one over.
“These? These are the best chance we have to find others like us! These are cryo-tubes Terra, they keep people in stasis so they can live past long periods of time till their ready to wake up. Garin came from one of these things.”
Terra suddenly understood. She moved with as much vigor as the two, climbing the walls with her tendrils to spot anything she could that might be a friend.
…
Terra, Sara, and Garin searched for hours inside the massive facility, each one exhausted from their search. Sara and Garin laid next to each other as the chill of the room started to finally seep into their iridescent flesh. Terra wasn’t bothered from the cold as much, but she could feel herself get sluggish from the temperature affecting her body. After all these hours, she was no closer to finding another Shandori, which bothered her to no end. Even though she knew Garin and Sara were like her, she wanted to know what happened to the others like her, she wanted answers as to what happened to their kind. She didn’t think the one she found might know, but it kept her searching.
She climbed into the tallest parts of the facility, her tendrils working flawlessly as she scaled the superstructure. Each pod glowed with a pale blue, as if promising her success if she only took the time to look. Yet she kept meeting with disappointment as she traversed, until she found one.
Deep in the recess of the highest part of the facility, Terra stared at a being wrapped in a metal covering. She could make out a tinge of black features, each with a green sheen to them. The ice fogged up the rest of the features but she was certain she found one.
“Garin, Sara!”
They both looked up at her, their voices sounding shocked,
“Did you find one?” Garin said with a bit of surprise.
“What’s the number on it?” Sara said as she ran to a console at the bottom.
Terra turned back to the tube, not realizing that there was a number labeled on the side. She squinted at the symbol.
XG-435
She yelled it back to the two, holding onto the tube and waiting.
“Got it, I just hope this thing works.” She heard Sara say as Terra felt a twinge of fear.
She looked back at the capsule, the figure not moving still. Nearby she heard the mechanical claw creak to life, moving down to where she was. She hung from the claw as she waited for it to take the pod. It lurched, but held true as the pod was free from its icy prison. The claw lowered her to the ground as it turned, placing the pod in a receptacle next to Sara and her console.
Garin moved to get a better look at the inside of the pod, putting a hand on Sara.
“Wait, should we do this?” He hesitated as he looked back at the pod.
“Are you kidding?” Terra said, her arm swatting away Garin’s “You would leave whoever’s in there because… why?”
“They may not be a friend, hell they could be a convert for all we know.”
Sara looked at both of them, and put her hand down on the button.
“I’m pressing this button now, okay?”
Garin looked at her incredulously, “What the hells, why did you do that?”
Sara gave him a goofy looking face, acting stupid, “Because shiny button! Why do you think Garin, whoever’s in there could help us maybe? Also, I’m sure no one wanted to be stuck in a cryo-stasis tube all their life. And if whoever is in there is a convert, we got them dead to rights? So, hush and start the thawing.”
Garin grumbled in defeat as he started the sequence, the lights on the old tube started shining in unison as it filled the pod with a red liquid. Ella moved over to the group as she finally caught up with them.
“Don’t leave Ella with water tiger and black snake again! You are all jerks!”
Terra nudged Ella to step back, just as Ella saw what they were doing.
“What is the shiny pod doing?” She looked unsettled by the whole event as she followed Terra back.
“It’s a cryo tube, its where we came from.” Terra said, thinking it might be the simplest way to help Ella understand. Ella looked back with determination on her face.
“Knew it, Ella always suspected metal men came from eggs.”
Terra sighed at the thought as the pod initiated the reanimation protocol. The pod spoke as the countdown began,
“Subject XG-435 reaching final stages of thawing process, will begin reanimation shortly.”
“Subject XG-435 listed circa: 435 AE, time to date 11 ST 34:37 year 937 AE. Subject receiving enticing agents, releasing now.”
Ella held onto Terra as the steam released from the tube into the room. Garin prepared himself, his tendril aimed at the pod. Sara stood at the console, making no moves and simply gazing at the pod.
“Subject XG-435 mental health reading nominal, no signs of frosting tissues. Releasing Subject XG-435 is best course, initializing.
The tube hatch raised open as the steam began to dim, Terra could make out the form better now that she had no ice behind the glass. The being she looked at was clearly Shandori, she recognized the metallic armor that covered the body and the green she saw earlier was the iridescent lights like her friends had.
“Subject XG-435 hatching process complete, welcome back designation, Frigg.”