Chapter 8 – A Whisper of Regret

Adam rummaged through the alley and its broken furniture, looking for anything he could use as a weapon. His best choice was a wooden table leg, which he stuck in his belt. He could almost hear his old captain’s nasal voice. ‘Forget your blade, bow, and trident, and you’ll be the gravedigger's favourite client!’ Ugh, you’d think I would’ve learned by now.

To get an overview of his surroundings, he climbed one of the alley’s walls. So, these ‘intruders’ should be in some library around here. But according to the blue people, the place is swarming with Roots. When he reached the edge of a domed roof, he could peek around from behind one of the many statues depicting Caine.

Sadly, there was no trace of Oliver or Emily, but Adam was able to take a better look at the bizarre town. For some reason, it had been built at the centre of a strange, hemispherical cave. From Adam’s point of view, he was able to see dozens of broad entrances to tunnels where the sloped ground met the wall. Inlaid in the floor of each tunnel was a patterned trail reminiscent of the veins in a leaf. These trails shone in greenish-gold, like leaves in the summer sun. From the entrances of the tunnels, the patterns flowed into the broad streets in the direction of the town’s centre, outside of his view.

Besides the peculiar green lights, there was a strange light with shifting tones of red and yellow which shone from somewhere up above. From the shadows it left, Adam could tell the source was somewhere at the cave’s ceiling.

As a professional relic hunter and a history enthusiast, Adam had seen many ruins and cities of both ancient and modern civilizations. He had studied cultures from all over the known world, even from regions now lost due to the Mist. So, looking at the town, he tried to find traces of familiarity in what he saw to figure out where Caine and the blue people had taken him. He peered with fascination at the hieroglyphs and architectural features, like the domed buildings built in and around stalagmites. However, he’d never seen anything like them.

Amazing… this truly is a unique and advanced underground culture. A people that have managed to stay secret! I wonder where all those tunnels lead to? Caine’s goons did mention several ‘other Nodes’ around here.

Although he could’ve studied the buildings and the tunnels for hours, Adam got up from behind the statue and made his way to the other side of the domed roof. Peering from behind massive, moss-covered burial urns, he looked up.

The colour drained from his face. He scurried backwards in utter shock when he saw the source of the strange light up above: a humongous, centipede-like being that hung in the air from the ceiling.

“Schultora,” a voice like nails on metal screeched; a voice that emanated from inside Adam’s own head.

Adam knew the being was horrific at first glance, but somehow, he couldn’t resist to keep looking at it. Similar to the strange tendency to stare at wounds on one’s own body. Or the need to remember one’s worst memories again and again.

The being hung in t he air in loose curls like a snake, while the end of its immense tail protruded from the cave’s ceiling. Its arthropod-like body shone in shimmering colours of red, yellow, and black like a disturbing deity replacing the sun. Two large, crab-like pincers made slow beckoning movements towards its savage mouth. Above its eyeless, misshapen head floated a halo consisting of savage spikes, seemingly made of red-hot metal.

“Schultora,” the voice screeched even louder from inside Adam’s head. Adam fell sideways on the ground in a foetal position and grabbed his head as his mind was suddenly flooded with memories.

With unprecedented clarity, as if he was in a life-like dream, Adam saw a younger version of himself. Two priests of the Starwing Order firmly guided him out of the Starwing Academy. If he had been born with a dominant right heart, like Caine and Oliver, he would’ve had the chance to Awaken it and learn Novaseering. But no, the priests had confirmed he had a dominant left heart, which made sure Novaseering was forever out of his reach. Moreover, it meant he was ‘gifted’ with the ability to learn the Forbidden Arts. A fact that had quickly spread through the grapevine in the streets where he lived, making several people shun him. Adam saw how he had punched walls in Gotterburg’s back alleys until his knuckles bled. He heard his own screams, hoarse with hatred for himself.

His surroundings changed. Suddenly, Adam saw younger versions of himself and Oliver in front of him. They were sitting on a bench in Ziecherhein’s grand square, long before the disaster had happened. Oliver cried and screamed insults at Adam, spewing out all of his rage, disgust, and disappointment. At the time, Oliver had a girlfriend called Erica , but Caine was sleeping with her in secret. Adam had known, but couldn’t bring himself to tell Oliver. The young, red-faced Adam stammered for words and quivered in shame. The older Adam convulsed on the ground, as pure, condensed shame and guilt surged through him like wildfire.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Suddenly, he was back in Caine’s house and saw how the bastard was holding Eric’s hand. Adam felt weak; a bloated shadow of his former self. After all, if he’d actually trained these past years, maybe he would have been able to save his family.

Adam winced when he saw himself in the years after the war as he was hiding in his mountain village. A refugee after surviving his trial and execution who had lost contact with his old friends.

Adam hissed when a burning sensation occurred on his heart, as if a red-hot iron brand was pressed onto it. It left a scorched mark on his heart in the shape of the horrendous creature.

“Schultora,” his heart whispered .

Adam grasped his chest and clumsily rushed to his feet. “Stop! Leave me!” he said, almost falling off the roof in his attempts to flee. He huddled in a corner and squeezed his eyes shut.

In his old home in Gotterburg, Adam was a stupid teenager again. One who had the gall to yell at his crying mother for not leaving his damned, mostly absent father. For giving money to the needy while they had so little themselves. For being ‘weak.’ Adam would have given an arm to go back in time and shake some sense into himself.

Among all the memories that flashed before him, it felt like something huge was coming up. Something hollow and painful that should stay forgotten. It rose from oblivion, like a dark creature from the depths of the ocean. Adam gritted his teeth and forced his eyes shut. Not knowing what memories it held within, he instinctively tried to push it down again.

“Schultora,” his heart hissed. Vague images Adam barely remembered leaked out into his consciousness. The sickening green light that had laid waste to all soldiers within Ziecherhein. He heard the furious cries of a crowd that dragged him along after he had survived the disaster. He saw the dead blue eyes again. The same set of familiar eyes that haunted his dreams so often. If any gods existed, they’d played a cruel joke for letting him survive the disaster of Ziecherhein while so many better, worthier people lay beneath the ground.

Slowly, the stream of images and sounds subsided and his heart turned silent. The dark presence that had risen sank back into his subconscious again, forgotten.

Adam shivered from head to toe and grasped his chest with both hands. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his mouth was sour as if he’d been sick. Unsure what Schultora had done to him, he tried to get his erratic breathing under control.

Cold shivers ran down Adam’s spine. Hiding from Schultora’s horrifying ability, he lay in foetal position atop the mossy roof of some deserted house. Now that the sinister screeches and dream-like visions had left, he felt strangely empty and alone in the ruined town. He was cold and miserable, after reliving some of the lowest moments of his life. Feeling small, like a man who didn’t deserve to be alive, he sat up with difficulty and folded his arms around himself.

He slapped himself in the face. Pull yourself together! No time to feel sorry for yourself!

Adam squeezed his chest, trying to check on his left heart. Although it had stopped whispering, it had undergone a disturbing change of some sort. Since the disaster of Ziecherhein, when his heart had Awakened and the whispers had started, it had never said anything else than ‘stay alive.’ However, his left heart had clearly repeated Schultora’s name just now. Moreover, Adam could still feel the scorched brand in the shape of the disgusting being on his heart.

One part of him wanted to analyse Schultora, an immense being unlike anything he’d seen or heard of. He wanted to understand what it had just done to him, but another, more primal part of him screamed to never look at it again. To hide somewhere before it can use its ability a second time.

Come on, Adam, you’re still drawing breath. No matter what crazy things are happening, there must be a logical explanation or a system behind this place that makes sense. There always is.

Gradually, Adam managed to get his tired brain back to work. He wondered whether Oliver and Emily could have gotten in a fight with the damn beast. If it turned out to be aggressive, there wasn’t much even the two of them could have done. All of them were less than mosquitoes compared to a monstrosity like that.

However, Schultora hadn’t used its ability on Adam earlier on, while he was in the cart or fighting the Roots and the blue people, even though the beast must’ve been able to see him. No, it had only used its ability when Adam looked at it.

Adam hesitantly peeked at the town again and avoided Schultora with his gaze. Luckily, he wasn’t bombarded with memories a second time; Adam sighed in relief. From the way Schultora’s light shone on the cave, Adam could tell the abomination hadn’t moved away from its position either. It didn’t even make a sound or show any sign that it acknowledged Adam’s existence. It reminded Adam of how indifferently people would treat an ant near their feet.

With shaking limbs, Adam slowly walked away from his hiding spot and kept low behind the crenelations on the roof. Avoiding Schultora with his gaze, he resumed inspecting the town for clues.

Below Schultora, at the centre of both the hemispherical cave and the town, stood a massive segmented pyramid that was partially covered with the Overgrowth. A huge statue of a woman crowned its flattened top. Interestingly, the leaf-like patterns in the streets converged beneath the pyramid. A large spiral, which glowed in goldish-green as well, was inlaid on the pyramid’s flattened top, around the statue’s base.

When Adam squinted, he saw shapes behind a window at the pyramid’s side: long rows of bookcases. Alright, we have ourselves a library. Adam studied the style of the pyramid and its rich decorations for any similarity to a culture or geographic region he knew until his jaw dropped. Adam felt the blood drain from his face.

Suddenly, he'd recognized the titanic statue, which looked over the town with a dignified expression. He hadn’t realized it before, due to the statue’s many idealized features, from a more athletic figure to fuller lips and a less pronounced nose. However, now that he was really looking at her, it was undoubtedly the same woman whose likeness was all over the town in both hieroglyphs and statues.

No matter how he tried to deny it, the truth was inescapable: It was Catherine.