“Ugh… not again…”

Dim, humid, disgusting, and above all…

Familiar.

Standing atop a pile of rubble, I came back to my senses once more. Luckily, there is no internal backlash from my fall this time around. My hearing is fine, my heart rate is normal, and my eyes need only adjust to the dim environment.

When they do finally adjust and I lift my gaze, a sight that was more familiar to me then not filled the building around me.

Cylindrical towers of glass radiate a green light akin to the water previously held in the containment tank up above. The glass is split into dozens of sections in each tower, some empty, only filled with the pre established liquid. Maybe 20% of them hold a living being.

Some are inactive Pasalana’s, others are infantile humanoids, and on occasion… One will contain a mutated blob of flesh, grotesque and mutilated beyond recognition, kept alive by this wonder of bioengineering.

This? Familiar, why? Not that I’ve ever been in one or something… Just something to be expected from MOTF, but on a much larger scale. The one back in the Infinite Labyrinth only held maybe 3-4 dozen pods, while the Abyss in Olympus dwarfs that number, containing some couple hundred or so.

This makes it pretty evident to me what the objective of this base was– manipulating the DNA of living beings. This obviously came with questionable ethical implications. Not like MOTF was ever an organization that accounted for ethics, bioengineering itself has always been a controversial field for discussion.

Truly a despicable corporation, both in and out. Atleast MORS has the decency to treat their members more fairly, even if they’re methods are extremely outdated and convoluted. I still wonder to this day how such an antiquated company is one of the lead developers of modern technology, making both holograms and portable nuclear reactors for their elite soldiers who fight with their tech.

Hold on, I think I’ve been spacing out for a little too long here…

…?

…Where is Solace?

I should have thought of this earlier… The search for the cube thing can be put on the backburner for now. Solace should be fine down here, but I still can’t help but worry…

Even if he can fly and all… I’m just worried about him, not something else…

I step off of the pile of rubble, and my feet touch down onto the uniquely textured dark floor. With it being dim, I can’t exactly see what the texture is, but it’s noticeable enough for me to feel even through the soles of my boots.

Turning back to the pile of rubble, the thought of where the Decaying King’s corpse fell occurs to me. Maybe under the rubble? Sure, probably. I’m sure if it were alive, it would be out and about, wrecking all of these containment pods. While for Solace, greater spirits can’t be rendered unconscious by physical trauma, so I doubt he’s stuck under there either.

Looking at the rubble now, the reflections of miniature glass shards sprinkled into the mound sparkle like green glitter underneath the rubble, in spite of the dim environment .

Knowing this won’t bear any fruit, so I instead choose to circle around the pile of rubble, quietly passing by the towers of containment pods.

All of the ones I pass by are empty until I reach the halfway point between the other side of rubble.

Approaching and walking close to it, a blob of mutated flesh floats silently in the water tank.

I’ll just ignore it for now, it doesn’t seem like anything special anyway–

[ This is what you did to us. ]

.

.

.

…Huh?

A shiver runs down my spine as I freeze in place, processing the words whispered straight into my head. My eyes are wide open with a look I’d never want to see myself with.

Slowly and cautiously, I turn to the blob of mutated flesh, the surreality of it becoming all the more apparent.

Its flesh mutilated and transfigured beyond recognition, with the only residual trait being the 6 humanoid eyes scattered arbitrarily. They stare at me with this look of anticipation or curiosity, awaiting any kind of reaction I can give.

J… Just ignore it

Without realizing it, I had already averted my gaze from the atrocious sight. The voice of someone long gone rang in my mind, yet even if it was for but a second, that single second brought forth 6 years of torment and regret with it.

That unbearably hot room,

My hands bound by ropes,

The fallen knife that was point at me mere moments before,

Walls painted in that sinful colour,

And the essence of my soul.

The day that I will never forget for the rest of my life.

December 24th, Christmas Eve.

There is only one way for us Originator’s to awaken; through an extreme emotional response.

That is how I poured my soul out for the first time.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something zip between the glass pods at incredible speeds, snapping me back to reality.

Preparing my blade, I take a stance and thoroughly analyse my surroundings, but to no avail. The thing moving at high speeds is too fast for me to catch a glimpse of. The only thing I can see are the occasional occupied pod, but that too causes fear to rise within me. Seeing the amalgamated corpse of something unknown only corrupts my imagination with even more harrowing thoughts.

The thing leaps at me from behind with unimaginable speed, and by the time I can turn around it is already inches away from my face.

*clatter

I dropped my sword out of relief.

“Solace…”

Falling to my knees, I reached out my trembling hands, and he gently landed on top of my open palms.

“D– Don’t scare me like that, alright?”

Solace seemed indifferent to my words, and slowly levitated off of my hands. His flames began blowing in a certain direction, as if pointing somewhere into the darkness. Oddly enough, his flames seemed to be much dimmer then they’d usually be

“Do you… want me to go there?”

His overt expression of joy remained stiff, so I took that as a yes.

Reaching out for my sword, I, albeit hesitantly, grabbed onto the handle and got back on my feet.

Following his lead, we traversed through the maze of glass towers, passing by abomination after abomination. They don’t look any less terrifying, but with a companion confident in himself, my mind can rest a little easier.

After several minutes of silent traversal passed by, Solace led me to the outer walls lining this dark facility. They curve ever so slightly; certainly much larger than the containment tank higher up. We turn to the right, and follow along the wall for another minute until we reach–

Oh…

An old man sits propped up against the curved wall, several empty bottles of whiskey at his side.

Did it really have to be you…?

I stare despondently at the blackout drunkard, and Solace turns to me with a look I would never decline otherwise.

S– Solace, I know how you’re always worried about others, b– but please don’t make this any worse for me…

Deep breath… Deep breath… just take a deep breath…

Haaaaaa…

I think I’m ready…

“H–Hey, wake up.”

Sheathing my sword and grabbing his shoulder, I half heartedly tried to shake him awake but to no avail. The man didn’t respond, so I had to try harder.

I’m stronger now… I won’t let him push me around. I want my questions answered.

“Mister Unovon… WAKE UP!”

Clutching onto the collar of his shirt with my sole working hand, I lean forwards and headbutt the drunkard. This time around, he wakes up with a shock and mutters to himself.

“Kghhg… Wha– *hic* What the hell…?”

Upon seeing those soulless eyes again, I couldn’t help but feel nervous remembering what kind of character he was.

“So that was ya’ up there stirring all the trouble, huh?”

“Y–Yeah…”

“I’m surprised ya’ still alive after 3 years, brat. Ya’ want somethin from me?”

“That’s… right.”

“How’s that damn ‘Family’ doin? I haven’t seen ‘em in a damn while.”

“...”

I was at a loss for words.

Whether or not by coincidence, he already pinpointed one of my deepest regrets.

Noticing my hesitance, a sinister grin grew on his red wrinkled face.

“Dead, huh? I expected nothing less.”

“There’s no way those damn brats would survive out there for more than a day.”

My resolve had been shattered immediately by his heartless words.

Snatching a glass bottle he had emptied out some time ago, he staggered to his feet, using the wall as support.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“W–wow… look at you. Union Overseer reduced to a mere basement drunkard… How far from grace have you fallen?” I spat out, insulting him, yet did so fruitlessly. He was not the slightest bit intimidated by it because the fear in my voice was as clear as day.

“I said the hell ya’ want kid? Ya’ just here to– *hic* talk shit or what?”

…?

I don’t think he ever asked that.

“I SAID THE HELL YA’ WANT WITH ME, BRAT?!”

“Uwah– I– no– ah– I wasn’t looking for you—”

“Ya’ know what? I’m sick of hearing you squeal like a rat caught by a mouse.”

The former Overseer Unovon stumbled towards me. Disheveled and miserable as he was, he was still an object of fear. I couldn’t remember the atrocities he committed against others and I, but even I didn’t need to look past his face to tell his character.

Unable to contain the emotion within myself, I backed up in fear.

“N–no, go away! Just back off and I won’t h–hurt you.”

He momentarily stopped in place, as if shocked by my words in some way.

“Hahaha… You, hurt me? Are ya’ saying ya’ve grown even the slightest bit in 3 years? Ya’ couldn’t even hurt a fly back when we had you in the Labyrinth. Ya’ don’t have the balls to do anything more. What’s a pacifist to a world gone to shit?”

“I’m not– I–”

“THEN JUST GO AHEAD AND KILL ME YOU FUCKING BITCH”

Backed up against one of the countless pods filling this pit, my head was filled with nightmares of death. Not because of a literal threat— no, this old man had nothing special going for except his wits. Just… Just something… I don’t know. I– I… It’s nothing really, nothing. There's no reason at all, no reason.

“Why so quiet? Ya’ hesitatin’? What happened to what you said earlier? That’s right, you haven’t grown a bit. Not ya’ heart, mind, and ya’ still look like a kid.” he said, adding a snide remark at the end.

“That's– no, I’ll– I’ll do it. I– I– I swear, I’ll kill you.”

Despite the trembling of my body making it hard to even move, I raised my only working hand towards him. Using as much spirit as I can muster, I attempt to conjure a small spike of earth. However, the drill can barely take shape before crumbling into dust.

“You Originators. Yer powers stop working when ya’ feelings are hurt.”

I– I can’t stop shaking.

Trying to find a way to steady my hand, I bring it closer to my face and try holding it steady that way. But this inadvertently triggered another horrible memory.

Blood. So much blood.

On… my hands.

Not just my hands… everywhere. I was soaked in the foulest wine this world has come to make.

My legs give out, and fall against the glass pod situated behind me. Limbing lethargically, he approached with a drunken grin plastered over his red face.

Turning to my left, I looked desperately for Solace. But instead of seeing him bright and energetic, the flames constituting his soul burned dimmer and ever colder than I’ve seen.

Seeing the despair in my eyes, a dry laugh sprung out of the man.

“Hahaha… Ya’ looking for something? He’s not gonna help you. Look at those flames, they’re barely sparks now. How else did ya’ think we contain Originators? Through hopes and dreams? No, kid. Not at all. Were the things we did so bad that you forgot them all?”

The distress was written on my face, and was taken advantage of. He raised the glass bottle high, and I was petrified by the sight. Memories– so many horrible memories flash through my mind. The memories– or lack thereof in those critical moments.

I…

Still don’t know what happened, 6 years later.

I don’t understand anything. I hate not understanding something. I hate not knowing the truth.

*crack

He haphazardly swung the empty bottle, narrowly missing me by a hair. However, he instead hit the glass pod behind me. Both the pod and empty bottle crack, the bottle shattering into many fragments while the pod cracks open.

“JUST KILL ME ALREADY!”

“...”

“SAY SOMETHIN WILL YA’?”

“...”

“I SAID SAY SOMETHING!”

I—

I’m scared.

What would mom do? What would Jacob do…?

“SAY SOMETHIN GOD DAMNIT—“

… ! ...

!? ...

We both fall into silence as something zips through the space between the two of us, grazing the old man’s neck.

A streak of crimson liquid emerges from the spot he was slashed. Despite his drunken state, he could tell what happened, even if it passed by in a flash. Our gaze slowly shifts back to each other, having just about realized what had happened.

When the shock wears off and I realize what’s come to pass, blood erupts from his wound. Blood splatters on my face and hands as the miserable man before me falls unconscious near instantaneously. Unovon had been decapitated, but not by m— me. It wasn’t me…

I watch him fall dead, his head landing face-up right by my feet. His final expression remains on his face, but I don’t dare to look at it out of fear.

A blade connected to a tendril of dull coloured flesh passes by my left shoulder and back behind me.

Behind…? Wait…

With a slow turn of my head, I look into the broken containment pod behind me.

A vaguely human figure peers at me over the broken glass with hollow eye sockets. Gray hair and grayed skin, patchwork marking and six tendrils protruding from ‘her’ back. Various tubes strung to her body fall off and release their contents inside the lowered water levels of the tank.

“…”

“…”

“…”

I can’t take this anymore.

…

“What a wonderful story.” With his lips sealed shut, his smile curved into a U-shape.

“Thinking of what his older brother would do when he’s lost all hope… How wonderful.”

He closed the dark book held by his only working hand, and loosened his grip. Yet when he dropped the book, it instead began to levitate. Orbiting around his character like a magic tome, the young boy turned his attention back to the grotesque being that stood before him. A look of confusion was vaguely recognizable from ‘her’ mutilated face. It was as if she was asking; “How the hell did he get there?”

The Guardian of Stone stood a dozen meters away with a stance suggesting deep contemplation, yet on his face was a sealed lip smile of total confidence, as if he knew he had already won a nonexistent battle.

“So? What’s the hold up for? You were sooooo loving to that Unovon guy in the book. Why not now?” ‘he’ questioned the fiend, speaking in a higher-pitched voice, abnormally so. Almost like a child.

The fiend made a low incoherent growl, much like a dog would make when they bark. A tendril on her back shot towards the Inquisitor, but he evaded the strike with a simple sidestep. The psychotic smile grew even wider on his face, and the disgusting words left his mouth.

“Woooow… What an excellent display of love! More! I want to see more of it!”

The fiend charged forth, now all six bladed tendrils swinging uncontrollably, slashing everything surrounding them. Not even her own cellmates imprisoned within the towers of glass were spared as she slashed her way towards the aggravator that was smiling gleefully. Creepily enough about the young boy, the light in his big eyes had disappeared, in spite of that wicked smile.

“Hahahahaha. More! MORE! I want to see more of it from you!”

Growing angrier by his ‘taunts’, the once normal girl began attacking even faster, toppling all the towers of glass within the vicinity. Nevertheless, the believer of love evaded each and every attack with grace and an obsessive smile. No matter how hard she tried, not one of her strikes could even scratch the boy, and instead laid waste to the world around them.

“I can see it! The feeling swelling up in your heart! THAT is love! Such a wonderful thing. Every living being deserves to see it. Such a shame I’m one of the few who can.”

The blood-red mark of a skull appeared over his left eye, as if painted over his dull gray iris’.

“But…”

“I cannot accept your feelings.”

Before she knew it, the fiend’s head was sliced clean off. The Inquisitor held a long stone scythe, the very weapon used to decapitate our dearest friend.

“Ahh… Love, what an incredible, yet cruel thing.”

The scythe turned to dust in his hand.

“Hatred and love are contradictory things. So why is it that when I show my love, others feel hate? Am I really that disgusting?”

“No, that’s not it. These people just don’t know what love is! That’s why I must teach people how to truly love.”

The preacher of love took a step forward, but the psychotic smile faded, and he immediately froze in place, as if forgetting something. The smile crept back up his face when he remembered what it was.

“Dear Guardian! I’ve awoken from my slumber for the first time in so, so long. Why haven’t you come out to greet me?”

…

“You know we share a soul bond, right? I know you’re wide awake.”

A purple light promptly grew from his heart, and a spiritual voice bellowed from within.

( “As if I’d want to greet you.” )

“Wow… what a rude welcome! Please be nicer next time.”

( “If you want me to be nicer, then act your age.” )

“Agh… You heart my heart! I’d say I’m pretty mature for my age. You know how old I am?”

“Drumroll please…”

“I’m… six!”

( “Do you take me for an idiot?” )

“BAHAHahaa no it’s nothing. Just go back alright? I feel the Nameless is about to wake up.”

( …You’re right. )

“His will is growing stronger, ya’ know. He almost didn’t let me love that beautiful girl up there! Such a great sign of developpement! He is trying to steal my thunder.”

( “I’ve never made a bond with someone as disgusting as you, Inquisitor.” )

“Hey! Take that back, do you really think I’m… that… dis…”

His words trailed off, his eyes forced themselves closed, and once again, the Inquisitor fell into his slumber. The Guardian of Stone had fallen unconscious standing up.

( “Ha… Nameless, when will you figure out what’s wrong with your very own soul?” )

_________________

“... I …”

“...Need to stop blacking out like this.”

Man… My eyes hurt.

My left eye is throbbing like crazy…

What… What happened this time?

…

Not this book again…

Grabbing the troublesome book and getting back on my feet, I pat my clothes down and take a look around.

Thousands of shards of glass are scattered across the floor, and all of the glass pods within a large radius are shattered to bits.

“Solace… where are you?”

Scouring the area, I spot a wisp of green flames floating silently an inch off the ground. Walking over to him, I gently place my hands under him, and his flames start burning again as if he had just begun to wake from a good night's sleep.

Turning back to the labyrinth, a containment pod that escaped the maws of destruction we caused by falling down here catches my attention in an instant.

A ball of flesh, each side with its own eye floats quietly in its tank, glaring holes in me with 3 simultaneous side eyes.

Solace’s flames slowly creep up my decaying arm as I create a walkway over the mounds of glass shards to meet the objective of my mission here. Maybe the shape is a little different, but the unnerving feeling I get looking at it is all I need to know.

She said it herself; “You’ll know by the unnerving feeling you get when looking at it. Not that I know what it’s like. I wouldn’t be unnerved by such a miniscule thing.”

Now… How do I get you out of there?

I don’t want to break the tank, it might get injured that way. Marsh would give me an earful if she found the only live specimen damaged. No need to experience that again.

Ha, ha, ha… What’s with this feeling of fatigue I can’t wear off? I usually feel energetic after blacking out like this. I even called her by her name and not ‘Miss researcher’ or something…

My fatigue had made me unconsciously tilt my head down. But this was to my luck, as I spotted a sort of latch on the metal rim lining the bottom of the tank. Squatting down, I switch the latch, and all of the green liquid drains out from a hole in the bottom, leading somewhere underground.

A panel of glass fall off, and I reach in to grab the little ball creature. When we make contact, I feel a light tug on my fingers, as if little plungers had been stuck to my hand from it.

Retrieving it from the tank, I hold it close to examine it. Suddenly, my vision shifts dramatically, feeling like my eyes have been connected to the ones on the sphere of flesh.

I can see the internal structure of living beings… even my own organs.

This is… disgusting. But I can see how it would help with her research.

Time for send off.

Concentrating to my fullest, I think back to one of the many pebbles I left with her and think about shifting what’s in my hand with that very same pebble, over a thousand kilometers away. Purple light begins enveloping the ball of flesh, glowing brighter and brighter until enough spirit has been used to warp it that distance.

Then, the flesh ball disappears like it was never there, an otherwise normal pebble taking its place.

A wave of fatigue hits me, and I fall to my knees out of exhaustion.

“Don’t you… Don’t you think it’s time we leave now…?”

…My questions have not been answered, but my curiosity satiated.

I had another blackout, probably not related to that thing this time around…

Plus, I’m unbelievably tired…

…Let's… go home.

The pebble fell out of my hand, and I was engulfed by purple light.