"Listen up." Lieutenant Colonel Rose addressed the gathered Ravenrock Pack. "We have our first mission."
There was a murmur, a gasp, a surprised applause. I shivered, forgetting in one instant the hope I'd held that I would never see action. I had no idea what was coming. Bruna was seated beside me and she took my hand, sensing my anxiety.
"The details are very clear. We will support a special operations unit while they breach a site. It is us that will enter the lower levels, and we expect to find minimal resistance. Our goal is to reach the secure vault and retrieve the components of a crucial device. We were chosen for this part of the mission due to our facility and top-secret designation. This is not a combat mission where we will need to deploy our special abilities. Discretion is the rule of engagement. Therefore, several pack members will remain here."
"You're not bringing Frosty, Halo or myself?" McRaze asked, interrupting.
"That is correct." Lieutenant Colonel Rose nodded. "Doctor Imbrium has recommended that the team composition exclude the three of you." Lieutenant Colonel Rose revealed. "Furthermore, Doctor Imbrium will be accompanying us as a consultant, as they are an expert on the nature of the obstacles we shall face. Doctor?"
Doctor Imbrium came forward and brought up a slide of sketches and plans. All of it depicted old ruins underground. We were told about a variety of traps, which the good doctor seemed confident we could get past.
"This mission is a long time awaited. We needed an offering for the guardians, to prevent them from coming to life and attacking us." Doctor Imbrium showed us a small chunky-looking rock in a glass jar. It was a dark green, slightly translucent and had white streaks running through it.
"What is that?" McRaze sounded alarmed. "It feels like it is looking at me."
"This is a Sight Stone. In the presence of someone like you, it might begin to wake up. That is why we are not bringing you with us. We need the Sight Stone asleep, so we can get into the vault."
"Why can I not read into you, how do you know all this?" McRaze asked in front of everyone. Doctor Imbrium seemed to flinch, an involuntary shudder, almost as though they were actually hiding something. Then their confidence returned, and they said:
"I am attuned to the Sight Stone, it is affecting your abilities." was their prepared response.
I looked at McRaze and I could tell she did not believe it, but she said nothing. She'd already voiced her mistrust. She obviously had a premonition. I looked at Frosty too, whom I understood could see the future. It was hard to read his expression, but to me, he looked worried.
We all suited up for the mission, getting into our uniforms. When we were lined up and almost ready to go, the lieutenant colonel and two technicians came in with a cart loaded with our collars. He already had his on, and fitted one to Bruna first.
"You can help me with these, Major." He told her. She nodded and placed one around my neck. It was light, but knowing it could kill me gave it a weight. When everyone had their collar on we went to the surface and the massive outer blast doors opened. It was early evening, and we rode a bus across the tarmac to where our plane waited.
"It's going to be a long flight." Bruna told me softly. "Will you hold me, I hate planes."
"They'll make fun of us." I told her.
"No, they won't. They respect you more than you know." Bruna assured me.
It was a long, cold flight on the cargo plane. I held her and we shared a thick blanket. I didn't sleep, I kept thinking about the way McRaze and Frosty seemed worried. Something wasn't right.
On the ground, with no real idea where we were, two civilian food delivery trucks waited. It was early morning, wherever we had landed. We'd only flown for maybe ten hours, but that gave me no clue, I wasn't sure how to figure out if we'd flown east or west. I felt very disoriented.
"Everyone on board. I want us there by noon." Lieutenant Colonel Rose commanded.
Then we went from the plane to the trucks. We hadn't brought any weapons or other gear, although there were some totes on the trucks. Just ourselves, keeping Doctor Imbrium company. At the site I looked around. It was hot out, and the sunlight hurt my eyes. All around us was a broken wasteland of rocks and desert sand.
"Welcome to Jirim Naq." Doctor Imbrium gestured at a cave entrance between two massive boulders. "Special operations have secured this site, our job is to go in and retrieve the components of the device."
"Unload these totes." Bruna ordered and several pack members collected stacks of totes with packing material in them from the trucks. We descended past the light from outside and found the entrance was illuminated with artificial lighting. There were lamps set up all around, and more were attached that we could take and set up deeper down. There were also some headlamps and flashlights left over.
I looked around, seeing the chiseled sandstone chamber. It looked very ancient, like something long before humans had carved it. Indeed, there were faces watching us that, although the stern expressions transcended the difference, were not human faces. They were faded, like whatever had carved them was long gone before the first humans ever stood erect.
"To get past the first obstacle is a great challenge. You must forget what you brought, what you came for and who you are, at least long enough to walk through the chamber. Your briefing was deliberately vague enough to help with this, but I must be forced through. Don't let me turn around. Anyone who goes back must not try again." Doctor Imbrium told us. "I'm going try to take it at a run, don't let me turn back. It is vital I am present throughout this adventure."
"We're right behind you, Doctor." Bruna assured them.
"Thank you, Major. Ready?"
We all poured into the next chamber, through the darkness, our flashlights a confused jumble. I looked back and saw how many pack members had somehow gotten turned around and had gone out the way we'd come in. I felt a sensation like my mind was sitting in a shaft of light, weightless, examined, and for a moment I was so disoriented I forgot my own name.
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"We made it." Doctor Imbrium laughed triumphantly. "You lycans made that look easy. So many experts cannot get through that first obstacle. You have no idea."
"What is this next challenge?" Lieutenant Colonel Rose looked at the floor. Strange alchemical symbols marked each tile.
"Much easier, much more dangerous. Look up."
We all looked up and beheld large transparent bluish bubbles. In each of them was a person, spanning the costumes of many times and places, most of them of the Levant.
"Wise men who made a mistake in this room." Doctor Imbrium told us. "They are trapped in the moment of their error for all time."
"There is no way to rescue them?" Lieutenant Colonel Rose asked.
"Reaching into their temporality would include you in it." Doctor Imbrium shook their head.
"You said it's easier." I said.
"It is. I have a map of this floor that indicates which tiles we can step on.
"What do these tiles mean?" I asked. I still had some reservations about the mission. Something felt wrong.
"It isn't important. Just follow my lead and we'll get across. I'll go first and then each of you one by one and I'll make sure you choose correctly." Doctor Imbrium dodged the question.
"No. Atanarjuat seldom questions anyone. You tell us what these mean unless you don't know." Lieutenant Colonel Rose defended my questioning.
"I don't know what each of them mean. They were translated by someone who knows more than I do. The ones we are to step on mean 'Prudence', 'Honor', 'Patience', 'Goodwill' and 'Diplomacy' and that sort of thing. The other ones are the names of the components we seek. They are arranged in such a way that the order of assembly could be easily followed, by someone who is single-minded towards what is in the vault."
"And whoever built this place wants us to choose other options, not assemble the device." I pointed out. "Is this thing a weapon?"
Doctor Imbrium hesitated and the eyeshine of half a dozen lycans stared back. Now that I had asked, we all wanted to know. "That's classified."
"Then I grant clearance. These are my soldiers." Lieutenant Colonel Rose folded his arms.
"It is an object of great defensive potential. We cannot let it fall into the wrong hands." Doctor Imbrium stated.
"Seems whoever built Jirim Naq did a good job. How long has this thing sat undisturbed?" Bruna asked.
"Longer than history." Doctor Imbrium frowned. "Are we not under orders to retrieve this? I am just here as a consultant."
"That's right. I give the orders." Lieutenant Colonel Rose nodded. "And we do have orders to be here. But as a consultant, I expect your candor. If you refuse to answer another question, you will find yourself answering to me directly for endangering the mission and my men."
"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel." Doctor Imbrium looked away from us at their map and pretended to be studying it, although they had it completely memorized and didn't need it.
Doctor Imbrium went across, taking their time and making sure we all saw the safe path. One by one we each went across, bringing our lights and the totes. On the other side we quietly entered the final obstacle chamber.
"All we have to do is walk past the guardians. I will show them the offering, and it should be fine. As long as we open the vault with the Sight Stone, a potential component, they will let us pass."
I looked up at the guardians. They were made of some kind of red jade, their surfaces gleamed and looked almost alive. There were three of them, hunched over and horrible and massive. They stood on different pillars, although one of them looked like it had climbed back upon its pillar and froze that way, not quite back to the original position of the other two. I looked around and saw the remains of a few who had come this far empty-handed. The newest corpse was still clutching a medallion in both bone hands, but the head was gone.
"What are these things?" I asked.
Doctor Imbrium sighed in annoyance but looked at Lieutenant Colonel Rose and reluctantly answered: "They are known as three evils. They are Guardians of Jirim Naq. That one is the worst, it wakes up to bite off the head of anyone who comes without the right to be here. Its name means 'Rage' I am told."
I looked at Rage and the way its face was like a skull or a Jack O Lantern. Its arms were twisted stumps branching into unnatural claws and its torso seemed to be covered in patches of downward pointed flames, although most of it was smooth. The legs were short and thick and had the appearance of a rotting corpse, with pieces missing, exposing muscle underneath. Whatever had carved this awful statue had a clear idea of what the monster was meant to represent. I shivered at the sight of it, seeing how easily its cavernous grin could bite off someone's head.
Pointing to the second one I asked: "And that one?"
"Hate, I believe." Doctor Imbrium examined it. I looked also, noting the way its legs were two great arms and its arms were two stunted legs, hanging from its chest. Its eyes were large, and its grin was relentless. It was still hunched over on its pedestal, with its ugly scorpion tail arched over it.
We all looked at the last one, by far the ugliest of the three monsters. It was much smaller than Rage or Hate, but it somehow looked even more ferocious. Its rounded body lay flat with long ropey appendages waving over it, each looked like it was cut off at the thick part, leaving empty stubs, it had no face, but its massive round head was really just a mouth, with beak-like tusks folded closed over it.
"That one is Fear." Doctor Imbrium nodded. "Any more questions?"
"No, I'm good." I said.
We went into the final chamber, the doors to the vault sliding open for us silently. Inside there were strange shafts of light over each gemstone.
"Put them in the totes." Doctor Imbrium instructed us. "If we are quick enough, we can get out while this lasts."
"What are you talking about?" Lieutenant Colonel Rose asked. "You said nothing about that."
"What is there to say? It is an Etlendian enchantment. I do not know if it will work, but it is written that while this candle burns, Guardians will sleep." Doctor Imbrium sounded optimistic but unsure.
"Alright. We pick them all up at once, and then we go. Forget these totes, we have more outside to pack them in. Everyone, take a position." Lieutenant Colonel Rose decided.
I went to one of the gemstones. There would be two left after we each grabbed one. I guessed Lieutenant Colonel Rose and Doctor Imbrium would grab the last two, since they were positioned between them, closest to the exit.
We snatched and ran. Bruna was right behind me as we ran through the chamber with the monsters. Rage was already stirring, its flesh of red jade was rippling and it was moving breathlessly back off of its pedestal.
"You go across first" I told her. She started hopscotching across the second chamber, recalling which tiles were safe. I looked back and saw the others just behind us, and Hate was beginning to move while Rage tried to block their path. It snapped its jaws at Doctor Imbrium, who was last.
I didn't see what happened, but I went across. Behind me the others followed, making it across safely. In the first chamber, we all stood around for a moment. I didn't recall doing so the first time, but the second time into that chamber felt different, as though it were taking away my will to continue. With the rest of the pack outside calling to us to come to them, we all escaped.
Looking back, I watched as Doctor Imbrium went across the second chamber and soon joined us.
"Sound off!" Bruna ordered a headcount. Satisfied that we had left no one behind, we loaded the totes and headed up the stone stairs out of the cave.
"We are under orders to take these with us to Ravenrock, securing them there." Lieutenant Colonel Rose told Doctor Imbrium when we were all back in the trucks.
"Only a temporary arrangement, I am sure. You'll receive new orders soon." Doctor Imbrium told him.
"About that." Lieutenant Colonel Rose frowned. "How do you know so much about all this?"
"We've completed our mission. I don't have to answer your questions anymore."
And with that we rode in silence, and Doctor Imbrium became as cold as stone, avoiding our inquisitive stares and not speaking. As uneasy as I was about the mission, something far worse lurked in my feelings. I somehow felt that something truly horrible had only just begun and that I would never again know rest because of it.