Archive Ch.16

Another peculiar feeling gripped Nic as he exited the Library.

Part of it was the wards again, their presence having grown no weaker since the last time he’d crossed over them. As they exited the airlock, Nic glimpsed sunlight for the first time in a full day. He winced at the glare, eyes taking a moment to adjust, which managed it a far sight better than his brain was. Looking around, Nic would be hard pressed to observe anything of note that had changed since he’d been here last. The same people milled about the same equipment, shouting to one another about the same issues and preparing for the very same departure. Nic even recognized a few of the faces in the crowd, all of them still dressed as if it were the same day.

Which it was of course, and that was what really threw Nic for a loop. Despite the aching exhaustion he felt from an overnight trip, this place had advanced barely a handful of hours. Academically Nic knew this, he understood it, and yet he still wasn’t quite up to the task of parsing it into solid fact. There was a good chance he might never be able to.

Instead, he elected to focus on keeping pace with Jordi. Even wounded, the delver was difficult to keep down, moving with long strides as he led the way across the yard. He quickly drew attention, both for his injuries and for the fact he was trailed by the carcass of the slain CAT. It had been his idea to bring it back with them, Jordi insisting that it was ‘too curious’ to leave behind and Nic couldn’t say he disagreed. Thankfully Dewey had proved more than sufficient to tow it out, at least once they’d gotten the poor guy the right way up.

A crowd began to gather as they moved on, mouths agape at what they’d returned with. One, someone of authority going by their robes, approached directly, their dumbstruck gaze pinging back and forth between Jordi and the CAT. Jordi just flashed his dazzling smile as if nothing at all were amiss.

“Is there a bay open?” he asked cheerily.

“Uh, yeah,” the man said, pointing at a sliding door across the way. “Seventeen is free.”

“Much obliged.”

In short order they had their prize hauled over to the indicated bay, an even larger crowd having gathered to gawk and murmur amongst themselves in the meantime. Jordi ignored them for the most part, Nic mostly succeeding in doing the same.

“What do you plan to do with this thing?” he asked.

“Cataloguing mostly,” Jordi replied, patting the side of the wreckage. “This beastie has secrets and I intend to learn them all.”

“I believe it,” Nic said, earning a chuckle. “What are you going to tell the Director?”

“Yes, what are you going to tell the Director?”

They both froze as the sharp voice cut through the din and instantly silenced the scene. The crowd parted, revealing the tall form of the Director striding forward with all the presence of royalty. She closed the distance with terrifying swiftness and loomed large over the two, her gaze boring into them with equal measure. Nic instinctively swallowed in fear, sensing he was very deep in trouble, especially as he realized the crowd was rapidly making themselves scarce. A feeling Jordi apparently didn’t share as he spoke up almost immediately.

“Now, before you say anyth-”

Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off as the Director’s hand shot out and grabbed his ear. It was something of a bizarre sight, the fully adult Jordi looking more like a child as the Director pulled him in close.

“Say?” she snapped. “Say!? What about what I said!? The one thing I told you not to do and what do you do?!”

“The thing you told me not to do,” Jordi said very quickly.

“You do one thing I told you not to do!”

“Uh, should I-” Nic began, voice dying in his throat as her gaze landed squarely on him.

“And you!” she said. “I’d have thought Grey would at least pick an intelligent student, but it seems not! Though I shouldn’t be surprised! Just like this fool, I swear!”

“Hey, he held his own in there!” Jordi protested, though stopped when the Director gave another yank.

“Oh, held his own!? Held his own in the place you weren’t supposed to go! Idiot child! Just like your father, not a scrap of brain in his head either! If you weren’t my son, I swear!”

She released his ear, launching into a tirade of threats, oaths, and general expressions of displeasure, becoming so animated she almost seemed to forget they were there. Nic took the opportunity to look over at Jordi.

“Son?” Nic asked.

“Shh,” he hissed. “Just let her finish.”

The Director continued for a full minute, never once seeming to stop for breath before finally settling back down and staring at two of them again. She did nothing but stare at them for another minute before saying in a much more even tone.

“Did you at least find what you were looking for?”

Nic and Jordi shared a look, a small smile appearing on the latter’s face as he gave an encouraging nod. Nic returned the gesture before reaching into his bag and pulling out an old, spiral bound notebook. The Director held out a hand and he passed it over, watching as she turned it over in her hands, a familiar stream of data flying across her spectacles at lighting speed. After a moment, she handed it back, prompting a curious look from Nic.

“Well?” She asked. “Don’t keep us in suspense, what’s the answer?”

*

June 12

I don’t know where to begin with this.

We’re alive for a start and given what happened, that’s a minor miracle just by itself.

The things from downtown finally attacked in force, the lights and whatever they had snared with their song. Mostly humans, charging at our walls like howling beasts. A few of them had weapons but most just ran at us. Whatever had been done to them, it made them hard to take down. I saw one get shot six times and just keep coming.

They had bigger things in tow as well. Animals I recognized like dogs, gorillas, even some tigers from who knows where. But they had other things too, things I didn’t recognize. Somewhere between giant spiders and dinosaurs in terms of things that will haunt my nightmares forever.

And above it all was the damn song. You could hear it somehow, despite all the noise. That enthralling hum that never stopped, never wavered and no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t block it out. Not even covering your ears helped. It was just too powerful.

We were screwed. How do you fight something like that when you can’t even trust you’re not about to go crazy yourself. We tried all the same, lined up on that wall we built and poured every bullet we had into the fray. Barely even slowed them down and the wall might as well have been made of cardboard for the good it did. With all the giant creatures they had it took them less than a minute to smash it apart.

Any organized defense basically collapsed after that, real every man for himself kind of scene. Everyone scattered in whatever direction they thought might be safe and they were usually proved wrong. There was always something there to grab them, drag them off or hold them in place, ready and waiting for the lights to make their way over. I don’t know what those things did to them, but it was bad. More fodder for the nightmares.

That was where we should have died. Taken or killed to the last, maybe a few survivors to tell the story but more than likely just another ruined settlement overrun by this mad world. That’s what I was thinking anyway as they came bearing down on me, helpless and powerless. We should have died, would have, but we didn’t.

We have Sharpe to thank for that.

Apparently, he never left after we turned him away. No idea where he was hiding but it must have been close because he seemed to appear from nowhere. Stepped out between me and the horde like a hero straight out of some shlock action movie. Didn’t bother them any, they just kept coming, more than happy to go through him to get to us.

Sharpe didn’t even flinch, just calmly raised his hand and turned the ground to quicksand.

God that sounds insane, but I swear that’s what he did. One minute there’s a whole gibbering horde charging at us, the next they’re all chest deep in the ground, struggling to pull themselves out. All the way up and down the line it happens, the entire attack effectively disabled in seconds. A few of the bigger things managed to get out, but he had more tricks up his sleeve for those. Fireballs, lighting bolts, all that and more as he singlehanded stopped everything trying to kill us without so much as taking a step.

Soon it was just him and the lights left. They squared off over the field, a dozen lights against one man. He spoke then, his voice loud, projecting in a way that couldn’t be natural because, somehow, it downed out the music.

“These people are under my protection. Leave.”

And they did. Gathered up the few of their servants that weren’t trapped and just hovered off. Took their song with them and faded away. We were alive. Against all odds, we had survived. I still can barely believe it.

Suffice to say we let Sharpe in after that and we had a nice long chat. He told us things that I wouldn’t have believed yesterday, explained things that make so much sense it almost scares me. Magic. The man can use magic. There’s no other explanation, not with what I’ve seen. It’s how he survived in a world like this, how he faced down monsters and lived to tell the tale. The things he can do are wondrous.

And if we’re willing to listen, he says, he’d be willing to teach us. Maybe I’ll be able to finish that basketball court after all.

Today was a very good day.

*

“Quicksand?”

Master Orlin looked up from the screen he’d been reading, fixing Nic with a questioning look. Nic looked back, fully awake now that he’d had a full night’s sleep in his own bed. It was the day after now, Nic having surprised himself by getting his essay done in record time. That or three pages really wasn’t that much work, but he wasn’t quite ready to admit Isabella had been right in that regard.

“Quicksand,” Nic confirmed. “Probably either a summoned elemental or a spell to influence water in the soil. Simple stuff really.”

Master Orlin nodded, glancing one last time at Nic’s work before dismissing the screen.

“Unexpected, I’ll admit, but it seems you have your answer.”

“I guess,” Nic said, looking away.

“You guess?”

Nic paused, gathering thoughts that had been nagging at him since the first time he’d read the account.

“It’s just, Sharpe was an engineer before the Resurgence, right?”

Orlin nodded. “I believe so, yes.”

“Well, then wouldn’t he have wanted to test his new tech before he used it? Especially before he used it in combat?”

Another nod, though this time his Master said nothing.

“And even then, these are just the first accounts from Ronteele. Whose to say he didn’t help other people before he came here and founded the city?”

“That is a valid observation,” Master Orlin said. “What conclusion do you draw?”

“That this isn’t the answer,” Nic began before correcting himself. “Or at least, not the whole answer.”

“Is that a problem?” Orlin asked.

Nic considered for a long moment, thinking back to a great many things he’d learned over the last few relative days. In time he looked back, meeting Master Orlin’s gaze with a confident smile.

“No,” Nic said. “It’s just the next question.”

*

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