{Enki | Torrentus}
Thank Elden, Tameka was still alive to kill Celindria and save Pax. All thanks to the strange person with a hidden bunker conveniently located at the continent’s conduit entrance.
When Tameka first arrived, she’d tried to drain the Aegis-made storm of its power. It responded unexpectedly by screaming and throwing a rain of fire at her. Before the first gale of flames took her out, this stranger grabbed Tameka’s ankle and dragged her below ground.
And into a cave carved of diorite, polished white rock with a scattering of black chunky mineral throughout. It formed a tunnel which stretched North and South. Various supplies and rations occupied the shelves. Everything was slightly damp. Probably because Torrentus never stopped storming overhead.
There was still no reception in Tameka’s earpiece to give the Shadow her signal, so she’d make do until she found a way to destroy Torrentus, escape the lost continent, and rescue her son. But first… “Thanks for saving my life. I’m Tameka.”
She held out her nacre-cuffed hand to the stranger, hidden under layers of leathery materials.
They stared at it through goggles before tentatively reaching out, unlocking the cuffs, and accepting it. With their hands wrapped in more of the material, Tameka couldn’t make out any physical attributes beneath the layers except that their grip was firm.
Tameka said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Favoring their left leg, they stepped back and gave a sharp nod before waving for her to follow. They turned and headed South.
Uncertain what else to do, Tameka followed and straightened her clothes. Black soft leather shorts and a top which matched the woven leather bracers on her forearms, and it was all accented by gauzy blue material fixed here and there for a flowy effect—
What the fuck?
The small bloodstain on Tameka’s shoulder from Celindria opening the conduit to Torrentus. It was originally red like any other human or Progeny, and now it was blue. Icarean blood. Why was Celindria’s blood changing color?
Tameka shivered and muttered to herself, “Weird bitch.”
Her savior paid no mind, and they traveled further into the underground of Torrentus’ continent.
What was that storm? It had shrieked at Tameka. Wait—
Was Torrentus somehow… alive? Did Tameka try to drain a living creature unintentionally?!
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She called out, “Hey!”
The stranger stopped and turned to her.
Tameka hugged herself, bothered by her train of thought. “That storm. Do you know anything about it?”
They shook their head and waved for Tameka to follow once more. Unwilling to arm wrestle them for information, she did so and the gauze had dried enough to billow around her legs like pants with every step. Eventually, the tunnel ran into a junction where they headed West. Voices carried from further down.
Tameka wasn’t nervous about meeting strangers on a supposedly uninhabitable continent. She could drain or fight her way out of anything. No, Tameka was nervous about how long the others had went without her signal, and that maybe she’d accidentally harmed a living being—
The voices grew louder and more voluminous. The tunnel spilled into a massive station with an army’s worth of people loitering throughout. Tameka’s appearance didn’t shock them into stopping or peering. They went about their business as if her arrival were normal. All of them were wearing the leather material in layers.
“Welcome.”
A woman with russet-colored skin, green curly hair, and soft blue eyes approached them. She was the only person not covered in the layered material. Instead, she wore a pale shift, so thin Tameka could see through it. Oh, and her joints bent in the wrong direction. In a melodic voice, she introduced herself, “I’m Aya. I know you’re disoriented, but you’re safe here. We’ll see to it you’re taken care of.” When she reached them, Aya gently touched the wrapped stranger, and Tameka’s savior left to join the others.
Tameka wet her lips before asking, “I’m sorry if I’m being rude, but are you from Lacceirus Capra?”
Aya smiled sweetly. “Yes, I was born there, but it’s been so long. I was raised on—” She swallowed some emotion and straightened her shoulders to recollect her self-esteem. “I was raised on Gait. In the prison.”
Gait.
How did someone from Gait end up here? Wait… wait… What was it Tumu said?
“Anyone that goes into that conduit will never come back. None of the prisoners have, anyway.”
Andrew asked, “Prisoners? I thought they went to Gait.”
Tumu explained, “Not the bodies of research. Remorse wouldn’t let them out of the Dyson’s Sphere.”
But surely none of those prisoners had survived? Tameka asked, “How long have you been here?”
Aya choked on the question, like it hurt her to think of the answer. “I don’t know. Inanis took us hundreds of thousands of years ago.”
Inanis.
Tameka’s heart pounded. “You’re… Aya, you’re the children of Gait. You’ve been here this entire time? That was two and a half million years ago.”
The color drained from her russet complexion, and Aya shook herself as if regaining her grip on reality. Breathless, she asked, “That long? How do you know of us, then?”
Gently, Tameka steadied Aya as she said, “The boy with the white hair—”
“Korac?!”
“—He’s a… uh… friend of mine. We live together with the rest of my crew. He told us all about his time on Gait, including a Caprent girl who was nice to him. Are you that girl?”
Aya bit her lip, but tears rolled down her cheeks, anyway. “He remembered me?”
“He never forgot you, Aya. Your kindness saved his life.” Now Tameka was getting a little teary.
Kindness bred kindness, and paying it forward eventually came back when the originator needed it most.
Swallowing this unexpected emotion, Tameka asked, “Were you an experiment?”
Aya shuddered, but eventually nodded.
So Remorse had told the truth. Imminent did put the children of Gait through hell on Enki. Did Celindria know no decency? Already certain of the answer, Tameka asked, “Did Celindria push you in here, too?”
With a confused frown, Aya shook her head. “No. Although Celindria pushed some people here through the conduit, it was an Icarus who ‘disposed’ of the children stolen from Gait. Xelan was his name.”