Chapter 21 - Delving Deep

<---| Chapter 20 - My Imagination

The hole Glo and Izzac found themselves in was a lot more pleasant than you might think, gently glittering stone walls surrounded them. The small cave had decorated with stunningly carved geometric patterns, chiselled into the walls by hand hundreds of years before the tools that would have etched the designs into the walls in seconds were even conceived.

Novan was scrawled on the walls too where the etchings hadn’t touched, ancient equations and sums that learned about the stars and the planets in the same system as Nova. Glo smiled at the scratchings while Izzac turned the lantern in her hand on, the light illuminated the sparkles in the cave and sent a shimmering light show cascading about the small cave. Ahead of them was a dark tunnel, the sound of gently dripping water on the gentle draft lightly touched the ears of both Nobles.

“Fountain’s still running.” Izzac muttered, starting to walk down the tunnel.

Glo followed closely behind her, looking over more of the etchings and scrawled equations as they made their way deeper underground. The running of water became steadily louder as they neared the end of the tunnel and walked into a larger, perfectly circular cavern.

Starry, glittering gems and crystals were inlaid into the walls, ceiling and floor of the cavern, all pointing in towards the fountain in the centre of the inky room. Water steadily flowed across six other crystals inlaid into a roughly hewn black stone in the middle of the room. Glo’s eyes fell to the blue gemstone while Izzac’s were pulled towards the slick black crystal.

Each of the stones scattered about the room represented one of the Nobles, the six in the fountain were the six high Nobilities, the first six that were ever created. Glo’s blue gemstone was that of time, its gentle reflection hiding an air of malice under its peaceful demeanour. Izzac’s black stone represented forces, though the Noble had most control over the force of gravity she did sometimes make use of her other force-related abilities. Shure’s jade stone lay between Glo and Izzac’s, the simple idea of life represented by the beautifully inlay.

Svari’s white stone stood rigid beside Izzac’s, a sickly light similar to the first that graced the universe softly emanating from within it. The gemstone that lay next was a brilliant red, like blood pooled on a snowy day, Glo had spoken to the Noble that the stone belonged to a few times in passing though never enough to truly know their fiery Nobility. Finally, the smallest gemstone lay on its lonesome, a deep and swirling purple that appeared to contain all the knowledge from all unfamiliar worlds. Quantum’s stone, that of dimensions.

The clicking of a firearm interrupted Glo’s train of thought. He instinctually ducked and rolled behind the fountain for cover. Izzac dropped the torch and snatched control of gravity, as she did the black crystal in the fountain erupted into a dim light.

Their assailant was struggling to get their gun to work and Izzac swiftly swiped their legs from underneath them and forced them to fall sideways into the wall, the impact was soft but Izzac knew exactly who it was.

“Must every conversation with you start like this, Quantum?” Izzac asked with a tone of boredom in her voice, stopping the old Noble from getting up.

Glo stood up and walked over muttering, “Scared the hell out of me, Quantum.”

The old Noble, who was by his own perception, lying quite happily on the floor, simply smiled at them with his strikingly youthful face. From how Glo and Izzac were standing, Quantum was flattened uncomfortably upside-down on the wall. The old man didn’t look much older than Glo but his eyes were telling of his age. This Noble had been around since the creation of the universe and he had seen a lot in those years. He was wearing very simple garb, similar to Glo but matching the older Noble’s colour scheme, ebony purple hair matched with his shirt.

Silence reigned supreme through the cave for too long, the only sound the gentle rushing of the water in the fountain. Quantum was staring at the bands around Izzac’s hand, telling of her Nobility.

“And what might it be that you want from me?” Quantum suddenly asked, his calm voice startling Izzac. The other Noble hadn’t heard him speak in a long time, and his shockingly silky voice wasn’t something she expected to hear this afternoon.

“We were wondering if you could help us come up with a peaceful end to the war currently going on between us and Imagination.” Glo quietly responded as Quantum crossed his legs and placed his arms beneath his head.

Quantum considered this for a few moments, thoughtful facial expressions crossing his face. He had a rather simple answer once he had finished thinking.

“No.” He stated, shuffling about on the wall to find a little more comfort, a gem had been jabbing into his arm and it was rather painful. “When you have been about in this universe for as long as I have, you see… things.”

Glo raised an eyebrow and inquired to what he might mean by ‘things.’

“You know explicitly what I mean, Time.” Quantum muttered, suddenly disdainful, “You see war brewing and you see wars won, fought and lost.”

“We don’t want to win the war, we want it to end peacefully with no more bloodshed.” Izzac interjected, “Thousands are dying and you’re just sitting here.”

“Correct, I’ve managed to live this long by not getting concerned with anything.” The Noble man replied, “I’ve also seen wars that end up with both sides utterly destroying each other.”

Izzac shook her head, about to call the man selfish and other unpleasantries. She held her anger back though since she did hold a great deal of respect for the man and his survivability, though how his mind had survived this long was beyond her.

Glo caught Quantum as Izzac released him, receiving a swat on the nose for attempting to help the older Noble. Glo constantly forgot that for Nobles, age did not constitute frailty; Quantum could probably crush Glo in a fistfight if he put his mind to it.

“You see, if you want to thoroughly ruin Imagination.” Quantum purred dangerously, brushing some dust off his shirt, “That’s easy.”

----------

“So you’re telling me that you think Novan insurgents have slithered into our home and are plotting… something.” Latro asked, “The same ones who killed Finn?”

Vee nodded before throwing her head back and downing the last dregs of ale from her cup. She was going against direct orders from her guild, telling an aam about things the Guardians would prefer being kept on the down-low.

“Right then.”

The pair had met in the Crossroads to discuss things from their respective worlds, the inn hadn’t changed at all and still stunk of cheap booze and body odour. One of the windows had been put through in a fight between a pair of drunk Abstracts, the hole in the wall having been temporarily repaired with a few planks of wood and some nails.

“Any news on our mysterious friend?” Latro asked Vee after ordering another drink for himself and his friend, “Haven’t heard anything since the battle.”

“He’s back in Imagination, though he’s ill.” The Guardian replied, thanking Latro with a small nod and taking the mug. “Being kept back at Khuuka, I haven’t seen him but Quizzical says he’s not in a good way.”

“Novan bastards.” Latro cursed, “Ukey shouldn’t have had to go through anything they did to him.”

“From what Quizzical was saying, he’s suddenly developed listener’s fever.” Vee mused, watching the sticky liquid swirl in her mug as she swayed it side-to-side. “Poor man.”

“Listener’s fever?” Latro asked, not really listening to the Guardian’s words, “I thought it was rare.”

“Apparently Novans can give it to our people.” Vee answered.

Listener’s fever was the Abstract name for something close to schizophrenia, hallucinations in the minds of sufferers.

“You’re going to kill them, aren’t you?” Latro asked after a moment of silent thought. Vee replied with a small nod. “Your guild isn’t going to like that.”

 Vee shrugged and took a mouthful of her drink, “Nope, they’re not. Still going to do it.” She muttered.

Vee had been tailing the group of Novans she had seen in the forest for a few weeks, she’d heard rumours that a group of soldiers had been seen in the sewer tunnels beneath Perception. Though she didn’t feel like she was ready to pull a grate up and take a sword to whatever she might find down there, if someone else knew where she was then Vee would feel a little happier about going in on her own.

“I’m going with you.” Latro stated pointedly, his tone not allowing any argument, “Ukey is my friend too and I can’t forgive Nova for what they’ve done to him.”

Vee’s protest was ignored and she relented, some backup she trusted would be appreciated against Novan soldiers… especially if these were the soldiers who had killed Finn. The Guardian told him what she knew about the soldiers that had been spotted in the sewers, and that most of the other Guardians were ignoring it and putting it down to hearsay.

The Novans were obviously trying so sneak something into Perception, perhaps a weapon of sorts, Vee had heard of some Novan weapons; bombs that could level cities or blow holes in planets.

Vee and Latro talked a while longer before bidding each other farewell and going their separate ways through the streets of Perception. The Guardian decided that she would take a quick detour to the Guild, see if anybody in there would appreciate her company, she willed herself through the Candelaum and stepped through the veil to the castle-like guild hall. Vee’s feet touched down in the grassy courtyard, it was uncomfortably quiet there, especially for the time in the evening. Vee paid her discomfort little notice as she began walking towards the hall where she could see flames gently flickering in some of the windows.

The wind played an eerie whistle through the grounds of the castle as Vee reached the door, she pushed on it but found them locked. Vee rolled her eyes, Quizzical had taught her too well for a pair of doors to be anything more than a momentary inconvenience. Vee took a moment to concentrate on her breathing before her body started violently flickering and she stepped through the doors like they weren’t there.

The inside of the guild was inky darkness, the suits of armour lining the entrance hall giving off a terrifying feeling of being watched. She remembered when she was much younger, one of the other Guardians standing perfectly still in place of one suit and jumping out at Quizzical to scare the life out of her teacher.

The guild hall looked so different in the dark. She had been here a few times overnight but even then, she’d always had a candle to light her way. She could hear voices somewhere in the guild, too quiet to pick any words from. She followed the words floating on the air, her hand absent-mindedly resting on the hilt of her sword at her side.

Nothing jumped out at her as she walked down the hall, but that did nothing to ease the growing sense of tension gnawing at her spine. Shadows flickered across her vision and taunted her with silent threats, Vee felt a tad of reassurance as she grasped the hilt of her blade in her clammy palm.

She was getting closer to the source of the voices now, being able to pick out the occasional word from the conversation. The young Guardian could only fish the stormy voice of Lidered out of the conversation, the other two voices were lost on her. One of them didn’t sound very practiced in folding their tongues into the Abstraki language while the words rolled fluidly from the other voices in the conversation.

Words became clearer as she neared the meeting hall, she couldn’t tell exactly was being discussed but it was clear that it wasn’t for her ears. Vee decided it was probably best for her to leave when she heard Lidered say something appalling.

“On another note, why isn’t Quizzical dead?” he asked, a hint of animosity marring his stony voice. Vee’s blood froze in her veins, she was definitely not meant to be hearing this conversation. She needed to get back to Quizzical as soon as she could, to tell her that Lidered was trying to kill her.

“My man wasn’t what he claimed to be. He said he’d taken on Guardians before and bested them.” The softer voice replied to Lidered, “Unfortunately we’ve had to frame one of Guldfaxe’s boys so we could get our man out and deal with his... uselessness personally.”

“The way you deal with disputes in your own ranks is fascinating.” The third, unpractised voice chided in passing. “On Nova we either shoot them or have them dissapeared under mysterious circumstances.”

“On Nova, you rarely have your own back so exposed all the time.” Lidered growled, presumably at the third man, who Vee quickly concluded was Novan.

Having what sounded like a genuinely cordial discussion with a Novan was almost treason in Perception, both the Abstracts in the hall could be executed or banished for the crime.

Against her better judgement, Vee crept forwards and peek beneath the door, spying through the keyhole would likely get her killed, Guardians are trained to watch keyholes for prying eyes and ears listening in to conversations.

She could see the three sitting together and talking over some alcohol, Lidered dominating the room with his impressive stature. The other Abstract was slender and lean, even though he wasn’t wearing the proper armour she could tell he was a Poltergeist from the way he was sitting in the chair. Poltergeists were known for the odd ways that they sat down, often with one heel on the chair and an arm around their knee like she was watching now. Vee had tried asking a few times about their odd habit but hadn’t found any proper answers.

The third man on the other hand definitely wasn’t Abstract by any stretch of the imagination, Novan by all accounts… Especially now Vee could see the Novan officer’s coat and sash draped around his shoulders. He was neatly groomed too, better so than Lidered was, bright orange hair expertly brushed and combed into place by hands that deeply cared about appearance. The contrast between the looks of the three was almost amusing to Vee; The poltergeist’s mysterious demeanour clashing with the Novan’s prim and proper appearance. Both of them crashed like angry waves against Lidered, who looked like a bedraggled war-veteran sitting at the table.

Her snooping was cut short when the poltergeist’s head whipped round to face the door so quickly Vee was shocked his neck didn’t snap. She jumped back, shocked as she suddenly met eyes with the man. Busted.

Vee’s body acted on instinct, she rolled to her feet and started running through the maze-like halls of the Guild. She pulled the hood from her jacket up over her head in a futile attempt to shield her identity, the smooth fabric slipping from her sweat-soaked scalp over and over.

A shrill whistle tore through the silence, the three-tone order struck newfound fear into her heart. This sound was the command to hunt and capture, she was the target.

The Guardian could hear the clamour of Poltergeists ricocheting around the building like misfired munitions, they were trained hunters who loved to toy with their prey. Vee’s sprint was cut short as one of the hunters slid into the corridor she had ran down ahead of her, the half-mask common in their guild taunted her with a victorious grin when the Poltergeist ahead of her crouched down close to the floor. Vee kept running, her hand falling to the sword at her hip in case she needed to defend herself.

After a moment of calculation, like a tiger, the Poltergeist leapt forwards and began barrelling down the hallway at Vee on all fours. The Guardian drew her sword but kept sprinting at the animalistic Poltergeist.

Before they could clash, the Abstract who was sprinting at her let loose a terrifying snarl through his bared teeth and leapt forwards. Vee instinctually brought her sword up to bear across her chest in an effort to protect herself from the Poltergeist, her steel crashed violently against theirs. A horrible grating of metal tore through the building, making Vee wince at the deafening sound.

Vee got a closer look at the Poltergeist now they were face to face, the half-mask disguising her jaw had been decorated with a series of tortuous scratch marks inflicted with a sharp knife. As was often seen in the ranks of the shadowy guild, the rest of her body was wreathed in black leather over well-maintained chain-mail links that shifted over each other like butter in a hot pan. Flourishing away, the Poltergeist tried to disarm Vee but to no avail, the Guardian kept a tight grip on her own blade as she stared intently into the eyes of her assailant.

The Poltergeist knew better to try and take her on head to head, so she backed up, crouched low to the floor like a spider. A quiet titter escaped her lips before the Poltergeist slipped her dagger into the sheath on her forearm before she made a swift, artful roll to her side and vanished into the moon-cast shadows.

Vee hesitated a moment, she knew that the Poltergeist was still watching her and had likely fetched her friends. Vee didn’t know much about the guild that was hunting her, but from what Ukedideka had told her during hunts, most Poltergeists loved nothing more than to toy with their prey. She could still hear them in the building, knocking things over and rattling doors for their own amusement. Vee rolled her sword around the back of her hand to have it shorten before taking off sprinting back down the corridor.

Her suspicions were swiftly confirmed when she had to duck a number of things thrown at her including several ornate pots and one of the old swords clasped by one of the suits of armour silently standing guard throughout the castle. All the while, the only things she could hear were her own breathing, the soft padding of her feet on the floor and the tittering of her invisible opponents.

Thankfully for her, she knew the castle better than the Poltergeists did, the winding passageways and suddenly open spaces were mapped into her mind from her many years of causing mischief within the walls as a child. Vee also knew where the best places to sweep out of the Castle were, having had to use them often to escape from an irate teacher after they had caught the young Guardian not paying attention.

Vee’s eyes caught the glint of metal in the darkness for a moment and kicked her legs out ahead of her, the slide likely saved her life as a Poltergeist’s blade tore through the air over her head where her neck had been a moment before. Vee heard the Poltergeist stumble, they’d obviously expected to strike flesh and had overbalanced. Tucking into a quick roll, Vee made a break for one of the walls but was halted when one of the Poltergeists solidified from the dark with a dagger drawn to Vee’s throat.

“I can’t let you past, Guardian.” He purred dangerously, the blade of the dagger hovering, ready to rupture through Vee’s neck if she made a wrong move. Other Poltergeists stepped out from within the dark to circle the Guardian, six in total, including the woman who had confronted Vee outside of the meeting hall.

Vee didn’t speak, she had the advantage of anonymity for the moment and she wished to preserve that. She raised her blade across her chest as the first Poltergeist launched himself at her, his dagger baying for blood.