Machined Hearts

[machinedhearts]

Adrian gasped, distraught. "D-dead?" She pulled the royal blue cloak tight around her as she shivered with fear.

"Yes. I don't recommend getting shot." The angel stared off in the distance as he bounced his heels off the side of the bluff he sat upon. "Quite painful."

"Then... what happens now?" Adrian felt lost. This couldn't be the end. "I know, you come back and fall out of the sky again, right?"

The angel turned and looked down at her, his face obscured by the darkness of the void. "That was… long ago. Nothing that happens twice."

"People are counting on you, don't tell me it's over before it even began." Adrian quivered; adrenaline coursed through her.

"And what does that matter? I fought to make this world worth something. Then I was betrayed by those I most trusted. Now I return and it's valueless once more." The angel returned his attention to the infinite indigo sky. "I have nothing to offer a land that loves nothing more than its own corruption."

"That's not true." Adrian pointed an accusatory finger in anger. "Things used to be different, better. Then everything started falling apart once the corpos came to power. It was so fast…"

"If decay is all you see around you, then it's your duty to make things better." The angel splayed his wings.

"I could say the same for you." Adrian bobbed her pointer at him.

A low rumble behind her filled the void in all directions. Splashing and stomping followed.

The angel grumbled. "For someone who claims not to be my daughter, you sure are a lot like her."

"And if I was, you'd leave me to rot in such a world?" Adrian decided to change it up, pull on his heartstrings.

"You already said you weren't. Why would you lie?"

His directness cut through her arguments like the sharpest of blades. "Wh-what if I was? What if some gangers kidnapped me and mindwiped me?"

"I don't know what that means." The angel's wings relaxed.

"What if I am your daughter and I lost my memory?"

"Did you lose your memory?"

Adrian hesitated. Clearly the answer was no, but the primal urge to not lie to him snapped and stilled her tongue like a mouse trap.

"I thought not." The angel spoke flatly.

Behind Adrian, small ripples began to slosh against her ankles.

"So that's it? You're going to forfeit the fight against the Queen of Sin?" Adrian's voice was laced with rage.

"I never said that."

"Then what good does sitting here in purgatory do? The fight is in the real world."

"The battle rages on everywhere. Even here." The angel stood and perched upon the bluff, then pointed behind Adrian.

As she turned, she found a massive tidal wave blocking out the violet sky and rushing toward them. In front, a white light ignited the wall of water. It was a massive creature with many spiny tendrils scrambling toward them at high speed. Adrian froze in fear.

"It's the Queen of Sin!" Bardo screamed and the cloak began to whip as if there were gales surrounding Adrian.

She began to back away in horror.

"Dalmytrias." The Queen of Sin boomed, calling to the angel.

"Meredeth." The angel, Dalmytrias, cast a thunderous voice.

"Not even death can save you from me." Meredeth stopped and let herself get swept up by the tsunami, then rocketed upwards into the sky, using all of her many appendages as a massive slingshot.

"The Sun Tear." Dalmytrias called to Adrian. "Will grant me passage back to the world of the living. Find it."

The tidal wave closed in on them, and Meredeth lingered overhead.

"And tell that good-for-nothing, Acara, there is a price to pay for everything. I will see my debt repaid." Dalmytrias's wings ignited in flame, and he stood, braced. "Now go!"

"Bardo, let's get out of here." Adrian's voice trembled in terror.

He didn't respond. The cloak fell still as the wave grew ever closer.

"Bardo!" Adrian panicked and turned her back to the oncoming tsunami that broke and began to fall upon the bluff, ready to wipe everything away.

She closed her eyes. Before Adrian could scream, the wave smashed down and sent her tumbling head-over-heels. The spin was so fast, it threatened to make Adrian churn her guts out. But summoning great fortitude, she willed herself to not empty her stomach. Then the spin slowed, and she found herself sinking gently downward, a sudden peace emerged from the tumultuous waters.

With eyes still closed, Adrian sank to the bottom of the vast ocean. Then a cold, wet, viscous sensation upon her cheek startled and her eyes jolted open. Now in a mostly dark room, she sensed this place wasn't the spirit realm. A dim pink glow spattered across the contours of the room confirmed her suspicion. As a cold chill rushed over her, the scent of lavender mixed with the stench of blood filled her nostrils. In shock, she threw herself upright in dismay and sat on her knees.

Momentary flashes of light ignited the otherwise dim area. Light fixtures snapped sparks in the distance. Under her bare feet, cold fluid slicked between her toes. As Adrian stood upright, a golden glow illuminated the ground far and wide but was not bright enough to reach the high ceilings. Closing in, she realized the illumination came from numerous bodies, armored Order mercenaries.

Reaching down for the nearest body, she felt no pulse. Anxiety rocketed as, from the darkness, she heard shuffling. Her hand returned with chunks of flesh. A spark lit the room and revealed that the mercenary was gored from nose to navel. His innards were missing, and his face gone. The exposed cavity of the corpse which showed his gnarled ribcage, contorted spine, and hollowed skull caused her to shriek and fall backwards.

As Adrian cried out, figures in the room began to lumber and creep towards her. As she reached to regain her balance, her hand landed on the body's submachine gun. She plucked the sling off the corpse and what remained of his flesh fell apart with a sucking snap. A disgusted shiver ran down her spine.

Fumbling for the mounted gun light, she flicked it on and swept it across her vision in a panic. A horde of undead shuffled towards her at the far end of the room. All of these mercenaries were infected. From the very back of the group, a prolonged shriek burst out. A sprinter.

The sea of zombies was forcibly parted by the hurtling undead rushing for Adrian. Perturbed by the light, the horde began to lurch forward and close on her. Parted like a clothes rack, the armored sprinter emerged from the group and leaped high into the air. Adrian raised the weapon and pulled the trigger.

Empty.

In a panic, she forcibly yanked the magazine from the gun, unable to find the release. Then, she reached down to the pouch on the body's leg, pulled a fresh stick mag, and jabbed it in the gun. As she slapped the bolt handle closed, Adrian lost sight of the sprinter. She wagged the gun in a panic.

To her right, the light passed over the rushing zombie tumbling over a broken table as it lunged for her. With a rabid cry, Adrian trained the weapon on the sprinter and pinned the trigger, letting lose a volley of automatic gunfire. The impact of the bullets on the zombie's protective vest sent him tumbling down to the ground. As the gun ran dry, Adrian found the mag release and dropped the empty magazine.

But as fast as it fell, the sprinter rose again and shrieked.

"That's not good." Bardo proclaimed.

The zombie regained its footing. Adrian fumbled in the dark for another magazine, unable to find any more in the mag pouch. As she felt around, her hand slid through the fleshy cavity of the hollowed-out corpse and her fingers smacked against another stick mag, drenched in viscous goo. Flicking it clean she took a leap back to open ground against the advancing sprinter. Her foot caught the dress. Adrian fell backwards.

Now prone, she was unable align the magazine to the mag well and couldn't insert it. The sprinter leapt straight for her. An unilluminated bolt of lightning struck, and her legs extended under her. In the blink of an eye, Adrian found herself staring at the place where she had just fallen, from a distance. The sprinter zombie clawed at the ground where she once laid. Bardo teleported them away.

"Oh, oh, there it goes!" Bardo spoke with excitement.

Now standing near a wall, the light from the submachine gun lit the area around just enough for her to see the mag well. She jabbed the magazine in, and decided not to fire, seeing the sprinter distracted by the desire to claw at the floor.

With a spin on her heels, she slipped out the door and into the long hallway toward the elevator. Much like the ballroom, the hallway was also shrouded in darkness, save for the bit of light that the elevator indicators gave off. There were no undead in the hallway, but the massive horde was still following her. And the sprinter was no longer thrashing at the floor.

Running on the balls of her feet, as best she could in a dress, Adrian wanted to keep the noise down. A wave of relief hit her as she reached the lift and carefully pressed the call button to ascend. Waiting was agony, as the shuffling in the ballroom grew closer. As the elevator's indicator showed it was growing closer to the floor, the emergency lights triggered and filled the area with light.

The ballroom filled with the wretched cries of an agitated horde, spurred by the chaotic screams of the sprinter. Panicked, Adrian began to hammer on the call button.

The double doors to the ballroom burst open and the sprinter slammed into the wall opposite the doorway. Behind him, a mass of undead flooded out. The sprinter recovered and kept his momentum, rushing for Adrian with a wild scream.

As Adrian readied to fire, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Abandoning her attack, she spun and before she could get onto the lift, smacked her face into hard metal.

Before her, a lamellar armored Order mercenary loomed.

 

[machinedhearts]

The armored soldier grabbed Adrian by the shoulders and yanked her into the elevator. With a stomping advance, he squeezed past her and out into the hallway. It was Tank, the soldier she encountered at the hotel's entrance earlier. In the hall, the glow of his armor ignited and filled the space with a golden illumination. He pulled a towering, curved rectangular shield from his back as the sprinter closed. The lift shook as the soldier slammed the edge of the shield into the zombie's neck and drove it into the wall. A pink hue illuminated as its blood smeared up to the ceiling.

The zombie's head tumbled to the ground and its mouth chattered, fruitlessly trying to bite at Tank's ankles. With a fluid draw of the sword on his hip, the soldier chopped the head in half like a melon and it fell still. The zombie's yet-moving body staggered forth and wrapped its arms around the soldier from behind. Adrian gasped in shock at the sight of the beheaded body yet moving.

With a thrust from both legs, the soldier rammed the ensnaring body into the wall. It continued to entangle him. As he fought to free himself, the horde shuffled closer, only a few paces away from Tank. A second crash into the wall didn't free the soldier from the undead's grasp. Dropping his shield, he snatched one of the zombie's arms up. Slipping the sword between his torso and the zombie's appendage, with the snap of his wrist, he severed the arm with the honed blade.

Pivoting with his hips, he latched onto the zombie and hurled it into the horde, causing the left side of the undead mass to stagger and fall over each other. A zombie to his right lurched forward with arms out and mouth agape, shrieking. Adrian let out a war cry and opened fire on the undead. The assailing zombie staggered back from the measured bursts of gunfire.

"Send it up!" Tank's voice box boomed as he staggered back to avoid the bite.

Adrian fired another burst of the submachine gun at a pair of zombies on approach. "Then get on!"

Though she couldn't see his face through the gas mask, Adrian sensed exasperation emanating from him.

Snatching up his shield, he spun and swept it across the frontmost zombies in the horde, staggering them. As he retreated, Adrian lowered her weapon and pressed the button to go to the ground floor. With his tower shield held in front of him, Tank withdrew inside the elevator. A few zombies clawed at him, and the horde began to press its bulk against the wall, shoving the front few zombies farther into the gap between the hall and the lift. The shrill cries that burst from the horde rattled Adrian.

The doors closed, but the zombie arms thrashing to get at Tank got caught and forced them open again with a ring of the lift's bell. As the elevator doors parted, Tank braced his shoulder against his shield and charged forward. The impact against the horde sent the mass staggering back, dislodging the clawing zombies from the elevator door gap and launching them into the crowd. Then with a swift step back into the lift, Tank rested his shield on the ground and grunted in satisfaction as the doors sealed. They began to ascend.

As the elevator moved, Tank's attention darted to Adrian after sheathing his sword. His gas mask let off a blast of air, then snatched the gun from her hand and wrapped the sling around his arm. Then he pulled the strap of his shield over his head and secured it to his back.

"Hey! What the hell." Adrian clenched her teeth with fury.

The elevator arrived and the doors parted. In the lobby, a crowd murmured to each other. It was those in attendance at dinner. A herd greatly thinned. There were many shaken and shocked faces among them.

"This way." Tank's voice box hushed out, followed by a hiss from under his gas mask. "Follow me."

They stepped out and the two moved toward the far side of the lobby.

Two fingers held to his ear; he spoke over the radio. "B2 compromised, shut it down." Tank's harsh, muffled natural voice slipped out through the vents on his chest.

Behind Adrian, an electrical sigh emanated from the shuttered elevator and the indicator lights dimmed, then died out. Tank struggled to navigate himself through the sea of people with any amount of grace. With untimely bumps and unintended shoves, the armored titan inadvertently cleared a path for Adrian. She gave an embarrassed smile and mouthed an apology as each person bumped turned and gave her a harsh expression.

They approached a medical team in a huddle, muttering to each other. In the center of the group, Acara towered over them. Her expression showed agony and she strained to listen as the group spoke to her frantic and out of turn.

"We got another live one." Tank's voice box boomed and he threw a thumb over his shoulder.

He diverted and made way for the medical team. They all immediately quieted and turned their attention to Adrian. An overwhelming solitude descended upon Adrian as the team rushed to surround her and clamored, hurling questions in rapid succession.

As Acara realized who appeared, her pained look melted, replaced with a relaxed relief. "You must have been hiding down there for hours." She struggled to maintain an authoritative tone.

Adrian searched for the words to describe what happened. The dream world, the Queen of Sin, Dalmytrias, all of it. She couldn't even make sense of it herself, never mind condensing it down in order to explain it to someone else. She needed someone who might be able to help her.

"Do you know where Vincent is?" Adrian blurted.

The medical team stopped their swarming and looked at each other.

"Dr. Barone is—" a medic started.

Acara held up her hand to quiet him. "Vincent is in the infirmary. It's not looking good." Her voice was solemn. "I'm sorry."

"What about Lex, where is he?" Adrian's voice was tinged with desperation.

"I don't know—" Acara started.

Adrian closed her eyes with a hint of sorrow in her heart and shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. Now in even deeper than where she started before dinner, and alone, despair began to take hold. Not wanting it to win, she focused on what she knew, what Dalmytrias told her would help restore him to life. Even if he were no match for Meredeth, having him around was a far better alternative than doing this all alone. To make things worse, the medical staff returned to swarming her, trying to find signs of wounds, and barraging her with questions.

"Look, I need you to tell me if you know anyone who might know anything about the Sun Tear." Adrian spoke, hoping that Acara would provide a lead.

The mercenary leader's face washed over with shock, and she gasped. With the flick of her wrist, she shooed the medical team. She turned and began to walk away, but with the medics in the way, Adrian was swamped and unable to move. Acara turned and gave a woeful squint. The medical team dispersed with panic.

"Come." Acara called to Adrian.

With relief, Adrian rushed to catch up to the mercenary leader, who swiped a badge to open a door labeled 'Restricted Access'.

Holding open the door, Acara stared at Tank who was on approach. "Stand fast," she commanded.

The armored mercenary halted, and a frustrated grumble burst from through the vents on his gas mask. He turned and blocked the way toward the door without a word.

Inside, the back hall was a sterile white tile. Uniformed employees made way on Acara's towering approach. They looked at Adrian with confusion as the two walked down the winding path. After what felt like an eternity, and now with the sense that dozens of eyes were on Adrian, the two approached a lone stainless steel elevator door at the end of a long hall.

After a retinal scan, which the terminal was very much so Acara's height, at least three heads over Adrian, the elongated elevator door parted. Inside, the red and gold interior of the elevator was a harsh contrast against the pure white of the hall. Adrian looked around the lift as she stepped on. It had only one button on the control panel and no indicators above the door.

When Acara pressed the button, the elevator doors slammed shut. After a pregnant pause, the lift lurched into motion downwards. It continued to accelerate until Adrian felt like she was on the verge of free-fall. After what felt like minutes of latching onto the rail in fear, the descent slowed, and the lift finally stopped.

The doors violently parted and ahead of them was a massive open structure. The ceiling was carved from slate rock that jutted from all corners high above the elevator door. The walls, partially finished, were covered in giant pearlescent tiles. From the elevator was a grate ramp that spiraled down a sheer cliff to the floor far below. In the distance, steel structures were suspended from the ceiling by girders. There was no way that a space of this scale could have been carved out by this organization alone. A project of this magnitude would make even the consortium blush.

"The arcane down here is wild and powerful. Be careful." Bardo proclaimed.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian traveled with Acara through the massive, cavernous subterranean structure. The trek led them to a secure bunker suspended close to the ceiling. The thick metal structure's exterior was peppered with burn scars and dents from projectile impacts. From under the structure, an open-air lift descended to retrieve them, and they stepped on. As the elevator ascended, Adrian fought vertigo as the ground below grew small. The height at which this bunker was hanging had to be nearly as great as a skyscraper.

What scared her more though, was Acara's silence. The whole trip, the mercenary leader remained quiet. Adrian's gut churned, fearful that she'd somehow made an enemy of her only remaining ally, as tenuous as the relationship might have been. Like it or not, Adrian was at Acara's mercy.

Entering the bunker, within it was an administrative office. Rows of desks with archaic computer terminals, beige monounits, atop filled the center of the room. The outer walls were lined with filing cabinets. The only thing that really weirded out Adrian was the lack of any sort of corpo branding. With this kind of equipment, the consortium's symbol and lettering of its subsidiaries should have been plastered everywhere. Someone somewhere was making tech unaccosted by corpo hands. It intrigued her but also filled her with dread. Another rabbit hole waiting to be dove down.

Acara weaved around the desks and arrived at a reinforced double-door. It was obsidian, and absorbed what light the fluorescent rods overhead gave off. If Adrian wasn't being guided and she wasn't paying attention, she would have mistaken it for a dark room. The mercenary leader produced a pendant tucked under her leather suit and inserted it into a keyhole beneath a small wall-mounted console just to the side of the obsidian gateway. Pressing her finger to the empty console, a sharp tone rang out and a yellow rotating beacon lamp ignited in the corner of the room.

With a booming hiss, the obsidian door began to part. Acara tucked away the pendant and adjusted her suit. A determined but anxious expression was etched across her face as she squared up with the door. Adrian didn't know what was on the other side, but really wished Tank didn't take away her gun.

The fully separated gateway revealed a dark room beyond. As the mercenary leader stepped in, a circular console ignited. It was shaped like a chalice and reached about waist height on Adrian. It looked like it was removed from the cathedral, a symmetrical mixture of stone and metal. Adrian never saw a piece of tech like it before. As she gawked, the door closed behind.

Acara stopped, spun, and towered over Adrian. With two dainty fingertips, the mercenary leader disdainfully plucked at the royal blue cloak and sized Adrian up. "There are only three people who know about the Sun Tear. One of them is dead. Start talking." She advanced, almost brushing up against Adrian.

Shocked by the sudden emotional flip, Adrian tried to retreat from the mercenary leader's closing but only pinned herself against the sealed obsidian door. Adrian stumbled over her words, unable to coherently explain the dreamworld that Bardo drew them into, or how they found Dalmytrias. And there was no way that, in explaining what the Queen of Sin did, Adrian didn't sound like a raving lunatic.

With a scowl, Acara listened without speaking. Then, as Adrian finished, the mercenary leader's expression changed to compassion from that of anger. The sudden shift in disposition shook Adrian. How Adrian's explanation made any sense was a mystery. Why Acara drew any sort of empathy from the story was a bigger enigma.

"We have to get him out of there." Acara spoke with determination and spun to approach to the archaic console.

Adrian steeled herself, the gnaw of what Dalmytrias said to her about Acara ate away any ability to resist asking. "He spoke of a debt. Specifically, that you owed. What was that all about?"

As the mercenary leader approached the console, the words hit her, and she winced in agony. Placing a hand on the flat top of the console to brace herself, her arm trembled. With a deep breath to steel herself, she opened her eyes and stood upright.

Looking at her dusty gloved hand, Acara scoffed. "This thing's a mess." With her whole arm, she swiped, and a mountain of dust tumbled from the glassy surface.

Adrian squinted, suspicious. Her intuition tingled and spurred her to press the mercenary leader. "What did he mean by 'debt'?"

"I…" Acara hesitated, clearly fighting back sorrow. "I made a grave mistake." She turned to Adrian. The mercenary leader was again braced against the console, pained by the topic. "To be counted among the vast sea of my unforgivable errors."

Adrian shook her head, confused. "I don't understand."

Acara shook her head and began frantically punching at physical buttons on a small control panel at her thighs. "We can't leave him trapped in there with her. I already locked him up once, perhaps he'll deign to forgive if we bring him back."

"Locked—you imprisoned him?" Adrian's eyes opened wide, she spoke wild, incredulous.

"I never should have listened to Lei—" Acara choked on her own words and her wild-eyed attention snapped to Adrian. The mercenary leader gritted her teeth in frustrated anger, and she slammed her fist upon the console once more. She swiped her hand across her hair and down her raven ponytail that reached down to her knees. "Everything is falling apart. I've betrayed my husband for a half-baked plan that is crumbling by the second."

"Hu—" Adrian sputtered, bewildered. "Hus…band? Who are you?"

Bardo piped up. "You didn't recognize the Lunar Huntress? Don't tell me you didn't know the daughter of the twin moons. Wow, what kind of rock do you live under? I thought everyone knew her."

Adrian wished she could find his mouth somewhere in the cloak so to stuff her fist down it.

"Just another craven fool. At your service." Acara spoke with irritated sarcasm as she continued to punch at the keys in front of her, hunched over. A soothing beep emitted from the console. "Found it. A few hundred years ago I stowed it at Rocksgaten Burrow. It's still there, thankfully." Acara took a deep breath and calmed herself. "Look, the Burrow is outside the wall, on Nocturine's outer rim, near the Cleft. I don't have enough manpower right now to send a detachment. I need your help."

"What's a Burrow and what should I expect?" Adrian cocked her head, deciding to save digging into how long ago this thing was stored for another time.

"It's a… an Order stockpile." Acara tripped over her own words. "A place where supplies were buried long ago."

Adrian cocked an eyebrow, sensing she wasn't being honest.

"It's a secure location. The most dangerous part of this mission would be getting there," Acara reassured her with an honest tone.

"I'll need supplies." Adrian hoped to scrape a bit more for the effort, on top of the payment she was owed for bringing in Dalmytrias.

"The quartermaster will be informed." Acara turned and walked to a wall-mounted display across the room from Adrian. She poked it after inserting her key and the wall parted. "For now, use this saferoom and get some rest. Depart early morning tomorrow."

Adrian walked over and peeked inside. It was a drafty looking metal room with a lone bunk, ancient rusty lockers, a footlocker, and an archaic bathroom. She questioned if the plumbing even worked in such a place. A looming dread welled that she couldn't sleep in the executive suite. But the thought of the gnashing teeth of the horde that awaited in the hotel's basement gave her shivers and decided to take the damp saferoom over the risk of being attacked in her sleep by the undead.

Adrian stepped in, hoping she wouldn't regret it.

"I'll have someone bring your effects down. Good luck tomorrow." Acara turned and departed as the room sealed.

Sitting on the bed, Adrian was still riled up from the day. She wondered if she'd be able to sleep, with the adrenaline worn off and her nerves unfraying. Looking around, she got up and began to pace around, looking at the lockers. Curiosity set in and she began to investigate, seeking any sign of cameras that might be prying.

Convinced there were none in the room, Adrian began to pluck at each of the doors on the locker, finding them each with uninteresting articles of clothing, save for one which had a couple of leather suits hung within. This was definitely a place Acara frequently stayed. Pacing back toward the bed, she found the footlocker with a padlock on it. But it was unlocked.

With yet one more look around the room to be entirely sure she wasn't being spied on, Adrian feigned accidentally knocking the padlock off the hook with her toe. Then she squatted down and flipped the box open. She hoped to find something juicy, a bit of leverage in case things went wrong. Her intent wasn't to keep blackmail but just something that might take the edge off a prickly situation.

Adrian's jaw dropped. Her face was awash with shock. Inside was a cache of pictures. Older pictures, of Adrian. And of her estranged brother, Thomas. Some of the pictures were from when Adrian was very young, and her aunt Leiel were closer. Leiel was like a mother to her, and they were always together after Adrian's parents died. The footlocker had all of Adrian's service portraits, and a picture of the news articles mentioning her promotions.

The pictures of Thomas were of him and Acara, together in the same way Adrien and Leiel were together, taken as a family. Adrian and Thomas were never close. Adrian looked him up after finding out she had a sibling from the police background check. He was always quite distant with her for some reason, despite her desire to reconnect.

The footlocker had all of his accomplishments. Including the many diplomas that Thomas earned. From what little she gleaned from him; he wasn't big on accolades. She wondered if he'd just surrendered them to Acara. The photos showed Thomas was far closer to Acara. A sense of loss filled Adrian's heart.

At the very bottom of the footlocker were two old newspaper clippings. One, she recognized. The picture of a car consumed by an inferno. The headline painfully familiar: 'Tragic Crash Claims Two, Orphans Fate Unknown'. It was the article reporting of the crash that killed Adrian's parents.

The second clipping had the same image and same date but a different headline, one Adrian never read before: 'Murderer Slays Family of Four, Still At Large.'

 

[machinedhearts]

Trapped in the safehouse for the night, Adrian found sleep fleeting. In the morning, she awoke to find the two doors to freedom open. Upon one of the desks out in the office were her clothes, cleaned and folded. And the purse containing her things placed to the side, stained with blood. After getting changed, abandoning the dress and purse on the bed, Adrian scooped up two pictures: One of her and Leiel, and the other of Thomas and Acara. She had questions that were going to get answered.

Before Adrian put on her leather coat, she stared at Bardo and decided to put on the blue cloak under her jacket. As she rushed to return to the surface, her suspicions flared in finding that the biometric scanners accepted reading her fingerprint. The harsh ascent of the express elevator intensified her infuriation.

Topside, she rushed down the sterile hallway toward the front of the hotel. The backroom staff gave way as Adrian sprinted back out to the lobby. There, she found Tank conversing with other armored mercenaries.

"Tally the dead and prep them for identification." The titan's voice box boomed.

"Most of them are messed up," a mercenary declared. "It's not worth risking it. We're still fighting the horde down there."

Tank groaned and nodded in acknowledgement then turned to find Adrian rushing him down.

"Where is she?" Adrian barked, clenching her fist in anger.

The titan lingered over her, hesitating in response. "The lady left on a mission earlier."

"Where? She has some explaining to do."

"I don't know the details."

Adrian started talking over him the moment he denied knowledge. "You damn-well know where she is." She stuck her finger in his face. "It's not a request, where is she?"

Tank cocked his head and let out a chuckle. "I don't take orders from you. The lady is where she is. You, on the other hand are not yet where you need to be."

Adrian swiped her hand over her hair and stifled a curse. She wanted to lay into this guy and say what she really thought about him and the rest of this crazy organization. But now she was stuck with them and who-knows-what they had planned for her. This whole situation was a mess and she felt like a helpless leaf in a tornado.

"The quartermaster is expecting you. Basement level 1. Take the stairs." Tank pointed behind her to an open door leading to a stairwell. "I wouldn't keep him waiting."

With teeth gritted in defeat, Adrian spun on her heels and descended one level to the first basement sublevel. Down a hardwood paneled hallway with a red carpet and gold etched moldings, Adrian arrived at another well-decorated room filled with display cases of all types of concealable weapons, mostly guns, some knives. On the walls were racks of swords, spears, rifles, machine guns, and even shoulder-mounted anti-tank rocket launchers. The hardware displayed conflicted with the otherwise ornate room.

"Good morning." An eccentric, mildly excited man's voice called out.

Adrian took a deep breath in a bid to calm herself, not feeling up to playing this farcical charade.

From the back, between a rack of spears and rifles, a man in a three-piece suit emerged wearing a charcoal pinstripe coat and a crimson cummerbund. He was clean shaven and commanded poise. "I didn't expect such a prompt arrival, given the ordeal yesterday."

Looking around at the arsenal, Adrian's mood lightened. At least she didn't have to go over the wall without some way to keep herself protected. The revelation a mote of light in an otherwise dark void. Though, this was a strange presentation. She'd expected a gun cage, with more security and much more locked up. This place looked like an easy target for a determined attacker.

"Is there something in particular you're looking for today?" The well-dressed quartermaster folded his hands and placed them upon a glass case between him and Adrian.

She eyed the automatic rifle displayed over his shoulder, with a scope and suppressor. The thing was almost as long as Adrian was tall though, good luck getting it through border security. "I'm looking for something I can get past the border. I'm going over the wall."

"Of course. We have a fine selection that should satisfy your discrete needs." The quartermaster placed a silk cloth atop the display case. "I have a few suggestions."

The quartermaster produced a number of exotic handguns from the case and placed them atop the cloth. These were rare weapons. Some of them weren't even corpo branded, they were probably a custom job. Adrian cocked an eyebrow in bewilderment. He went through each of them, showing off the sights which had target trackers, and heartbeat sensors. Some of them were smart guns that could shoot around corners.

Bardo piped up. "These things course with magic. Be careful," he whispered.

Adrian hesitated, hearing the cloak's comment, and unsure of which one to pick. "How much are these?"

"Four hundred pieces each." The quartermaster nodded assuredly.

With a hand jammed into her coat pocket, she retrieved the two gold coins Vincent gave her and offered them.

"That, would cover two of the four hundred."

Adrian recoiled in sticker shock. Quick math put just one of these guns at the same price as some real estate in District 1. Her eye twitched at the thought of paying that much for a weapon.

The quartermaster nodded, reading her expression. "I see, we're looking for something more budget conscious. Worry not, despite our appearance, we're not above anyone's patronage here." He returned the weaponry to the case and slid the silk across the top of the display cases, to the very corner. He produced a revolver.

"It has thermal sights and a break-action for fast reloads." The quartermaster snapped the barrel down and displayed the five-bullet cylinder. "She's a bit more challenging to conceal, with a longer barrel, but you can't beat an Old War classic." He snapped the action shut. "Has a touch more recoil than most modern calibers but nothing you can't manage, I'm sure." He offered the revolver to her.

Adrian looked down at the barrel and read the cartridge size. 52 Longbolt. This thing was a cannon.

"It will penetrate most ceramics on the first go. Most steel is too soft as well. They don't make them like they used to." The quartermaster looked at the weapon whimsically as he spoke.

"Do they even make ammunition for this anymore?" Adrian doubted the utility of such an ancient piece of technology.

"I assure you; it would take a dozen lifetimes to go through what we have just in this location alone." The quartermaster spoke plainly and seriously.

Adrian worried about the recoil of the weapon, but considering her budget, she very likely had no alternative. She offered the two coins and looked away, not wanting to know how much this thing would cost. The quartermaster daintily retrieved one coin and placed it on the silk cloth. Then he produced a half dozen prepared speed loaders and a dozen boxes of ammunition.

"I suspect that, given clandestine intentions, there wouldn't be the desire to carry around these boxes. I can have them sent to your room if you so desire."

She didn't have anywhere else to put them. And carting around an armory in her car was a surefire way to get snagged at the border. With a relenting nod, Adrian agreed. Then, the quartermaster returned the revolver to its leather under-arm holster and placed it on the silk cloth close to Adrian. After putting it on, she secured the speed loaders and thanked the quartermaster, then readied to leave.

"Ma'am, one more thing." The quartermaster turned and produced a bladeless handle roughly the size of his palm, placing it on the silk.

It was a switchblade.

"Complements of the house."

Adrian thanked him again and took the knife, placing it in her pocket. After rushing upstairs, she emerged outside to find her car gone. In a panic, she looked around. Seeing the gates locked, her next assumption was that it was commandeered by someone. With a curse, she rubbed her hands on her head, wondering how she was going to get anywhere now.

"Hey!" A twangy voice shouted at her from across the driveway.

Shocked, Adrian dropped her arms and spun, her hand instinctively reaching for her pistol.

"That your car, that was over yonder?" He pointed an oily hand toward the front of the hotel, next to the awning on which Adrian stood.

"Yeah, it's mine." She shouted with authority.

"Well, you better come get it, we just buttoned it up and the boys are hot and ready for a joyride if you don't." He beckoned, then disappeared over the ridge, led up to by shallow steps.

Chasing after him, Adrian found a huge workshop cut into the landscape, covered up by netting and fake grass atop the concrete structure embedded below the ground. A winding pathway to the concealed building was etched through the terrain, around the camouflage netting and connected to the hotel's driveway.

Inside, a group of five gearheads were working on various vehicles, one was wiping down Adrian's car.

"Man, I told you it was her's." The guiding mechanic shouted to the others.

"Hey-o, girlie, you ain't gotta cover for him. We all know he's full of it." The mechanic wiping down the car with a clean cloth shouted.

"Yeah, she's a lifted truck kinda girl, I know it." Another mechanic called out, working on a big-wheeled vehicle. "That ain't her ride, get out of here with that."

"It's her's man, I saw her before." The guiding mechanic insisted. "I saw her get out of it, I ain't lying."

Adrian walked around her car and saw it repaired. She was shocked. "I have no clue how you fixed this thing that fast."

"See? I told you it was hers." The mechanic spoke victoriously. "Man, that wasn't nothing. Me and Jeremy took one of those six-tonners." He pointed at the big-wheeled truck. "That was turned up like a pretzel and got it going again in no time."

Adrian reached into her pocket and produced her last gold coin.

"That ain't for around here." The mechanic shook his head. "Now go on and git. You got places to be." He flicked his fingers to shoo Adrian away.

Adrian blinked and cocked her head in confusion, then thanked them. She got in her car, not one to turn away a freebee, and with the turn of the key, the car jumped to life like it was brand new. As she revved it into motion after the mechanic opened the bay door, the group hooted and hollered at her as she blasted the garage with the throaty exhaust.

Up the ramp, she pulled to the gate to leave and punched in the coordinates to the Cleft. A knock on the window startled her.

"Got room for one more?" Lex called out through the window.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian focused on the road as they closed in on the border checkpoint. "I still don't know how you got out of there in one piece." She looked over at Lex, now reunited with Bardo. The psychological wounds from the cape suddenly darting off her and layering back onto Lex were yet fresh, after all she and the cloak went through together.

"Just like you described what you did—I fought my way out." Lex supported his face with his knuckles and arm on the passenger-side door.

"So, what happened to the Adeptus?" Adrian's curiosity and suspicion piqued.

"After the Order's guards showed up, he blasted everything with a blood curse and ran."

Adrian cocked her eyebrow in confusion. "A… blood curse?"

"The public calls it the Parastisus virus." Lex stared out at the skyscrapers that flanked the highway.

"Parastisus is a curse?" Adrian's eyes opened wide.

"Part of it is a curse, yes." Lex looked at her and spoke matter-of-factly. "Competent blood mages can craft all sorts of vile incantations. Some of them turn the dead to live again." He folded his hands in front of him. "And if they're a technomage, they turn the living into helpless ghouls."

"A… technomage?"

"It's as the name suggests—a mage capable of weaving magic to command machines." Lex let off a nervous chuckle. "It sounds like it should be a given, if one can weave the arcane then you should be able to magically manipulate technology in the same fashion. But I assure you it's a skill that few can even hope to breach the surface, never mind master."

"Are you an all-powerful technomage?" Adrian gave off a spooky intonation as she spoke.

Lex's neutral expression melted, and he looked perturbed. "I am your everyday, bog-standard arcanist." He turned his attention back out the passenger-side window. "Rest assured, if a competent mage comes across us, we'll both be annihilated in short order."

Cringing physically as she sensed her comment was insensitive, Adrian wanted nothing more than to change the subject. "Then you have other talents. Surely that's why Acara picked you."

He seemed startled by her comment and Lex turned with a grunt. "Oh, right. Yes, of course."

"Do you know her well?"

"As much as anyone else in the Order could know the Lunar Huntress. That is to say, not at all."

"No one is close to her?" Adrian doubted the claim.

Lex shrugged, irritated by the question. "I'm sure she has an inner circle which she trusts. But you know far more about that than I would."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adrian let slip a demanding tone.

With a startled look, Lex stumbled over his words. "I mean, you're the one who brought in the Son of Stars. You got access to the cathedral. The number of words you've exchanged with her over these past weeks has exceeded what most in the Order have in their entire lives."

"That doesn't mean that we're close." Adrian smoldered.

"To her, we're all just pieces on a board to move, an object used by with which to win." Lex spoke with a regretful tone. "But not you. There are moves too costly even for the Lunar Huntress to act upon."

"Yeah, that's why she sent me over the wall. The outskirts are a perfectly safe place where nothing bad ever happens." Adrian's voice was laced with sarcasm.

Lex sighed. "And how many times have you done it before?"

Adrian grumbled, relenting on that fact.

The mage shifted in his seat. "And it's not like Rocksgaten Burrow is some den of evil. It's just your everyday Order stockpile."

"Have you been there?"

"N—no but…"

"Then how do you know what's there?" Adrian demanded.

"I don't. But I'm certain she wouldn't ship you off to your death."

Adrian hit her limit hearing about how much this woman supposedly cared. "Don't talk about things you don't know."

She wanted nothing more than to go off on him about how overwhelmingly weird his entire organization was, and how Acara was stalking her from the shadows for Adrian's entire life. Also that Adrian suspected Acara was involved with her parents' deaths and wanted to figure out how to pin her to it. But she couldn't, suspecting she was on thin ice having touched several nerves with Lex. Badmouthing his boss was a surefire way to end up doing this alone. With clenched teeth, Adrian shook off her impulse and focused on the road. She felt better having him around than not.

Lex relented, turning his attention back out to the skyline with a frustrated grumble.

The navigation beeped in alert as they approached the offramp to the wall. After traversing the wide turn of the ramp and coming to a four-way intersection, the road ahead, which led to the border, split out into six lanes. This section of the wall was almost as high as the skyscrapers behind them on the other side of the highway. The gate itself was originally a grand monument, commemorating the founding of Nocturine City some thousands of years ago. Now it was a bulwark against the eternal darkness that lingered outside New Downtown.

Pulling onto the empty egress lanes, the gate itself was like driving down a ghost town, save for the few militarized supply trucks the consortium occasionally would send out in the name of relief for those trapped outside the wall. It was either a mercy or inhumane, depending on how you look at the consortium's treatment of those within New Downtown.

Adrian spotted the border plaza. "Just let me do the talking."

She thought Lex muttered something but didn't want to get into an argument and cause a scene at the border. Again. As she stopped the car at the booth, Adrian produced a bright grin. She rested her chin on her hand, pouting her lips slightly and smiled with her eyes at the guard. He gave her a suspicious gaze.

"Identification and crossing authorization papers," the guard demanded.

Adrian pulled her I.D. from her jacket and offered it to the guard with a bright smile.

"And crossing authorization." The guard grimaced and held his hand out, denying taking the I.D.

"Oh! Well, I must have it here somewhere…" Adrian's words glided from her lips with a lovey tone as she started looking around the console for a set of papers that clearly didn't exist.

She should have just gone to the Southeast crossing, there was always that one guard who ate up everything she said. It was going to take hours to get there and get all the way back around the wall too. Nothing Adrian looked forward to doing.

"You always lose stuff." Lex let out, disgruntled. He reached across and pushed her arms down as he leaned over and offered a blank piece of paper to the guard.

Lex pinned Adrian with just his forearm. Not pinned, but she couldn't get her arms to even fight back against his weight. Her body from the neck down was paralyzed.

The moment the paper touched the guard's fingertips, his head snapped back and smacked into the booth's window behind him. His expression changed from suspicious and alert to one aloof and inattentive. The piece of paper vaporized; the dust dissipated in the breeze. Adrian gasped in shock.

"You don't see anything wrong here." Lex spoke flatly.

"I don't see anything wrong here." The guard repeated like a robot.

"You don't need to see our identification."

"I don't need to see your identification."

"Nothing strange happened just now, you're seeing things."

"Must just be the wind."

Lex looked at Adrian. "Drive."

"Drive." The guard repeated.

"Shut up. Stop looking at me." Lex growled at the guard.

The guard spun on his heels and stared at the array of monitors on the table tucked inside the booth.

As Lex returned to his seat, Adrian's numb arms regained feeling and she placed her hand on the steering wheel, let off the clutch, and drove away while then returning her I.D. to her jacket. As they crossed the second block into the outskirts, Adrian's bewilderment changed to anger.

"Did you just infect that guy?" Adrian shouted.

"No. It was a simple incantation, but quite powerful." Lex spoke plainly. "He's going to have an incredible headache later though."

"And what did you do to me?" Adrian demanded.

"Simplified things. You'll be fine."

"Don't do that! At least give me some sort of signal, or just have a little faith that I'm not going to do something stupid."

"You would have grabbed the paper. Then I would have had to do something more drastic. It was easier that way."

"Tell me you won't do that again." Adrian gritted her teeth.

Lex looked at her with hesitance, a pregnant pause building. "I won't do that again. You have my word."

They drove in silence through the slums. The sun was rising toward midday as they passed deeper into the outskirts. Adrian opened the throttle, the streets mostly clear, save for the occasional scavenger. This was Paingul territory. Just as obsessed as the Skabs with cybernetics, but also with hallucinogens and body modding in general. They were barely human. To be so far gone that Skabs were closer to human than not in comparison was saying something.

They got closer to the Cleft, a huge gash in the terrain that sunk deep into the bowels of the planet and spanned the length of the continent. It formed a natural barrier that prevented anyone from leaving Nocturine City by land. Adrian never found out how it got there or why.

Following the route, a dark tower rose over the horizon, loomed over the skyline. As they got closer, it was clear the dark skyscraper was their destination. Deciding to pull off into a secluded open air parking lot a couple of blocks away, Adrian didn't want to draw too much attention to them without knowing what was there.

They got out and Adrian loaded her revolver with a few loose bullets from her jacket pocket. She wondered if her car would remain unmolested out here as she walked away from it. Then she heard Lex muttering and spun in panic.

Lex tugged at the air in front of him, and a translucent cloth-like sheet burst up from the ground and swept over the car. The surroundings shifted as it laid across and the vehicle disappeared, mostly blending into its surroundings. Adrian could still spot it, but only because she was looking for it. Impressed, she pursed her lips.

"What? Do I have to run everything past you now?" Lex was agitated.

"No, good thinking."

Then they walked the two blocks, the streets empty, toward the tower which her phone indicated was their destination. As they rounded the corner, countless Paingul gangers lingered on the sidewalk in front of the dark tower. They wore dirty white sheets over what parts could be covered of their disfigured bodies. A number of them had spare cybernetic appendages attached under their real arms. Others had extra eyes bolted to their faces, devoid of any practical placement. Some walked like horses, with two extra legs attached to their shoulders. All of them were muttering incoherent nonsense. They were little better than the zombies which lingered at night.

"Yeah. Not a deathtrap you say." Adrian spoke with irritation to Lex.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared at the dark skyscraper, standing out amid the worn and dilapidated backdrop of the city blocks surrounding. Deciding not to let the situation get the best of her, she needed to devise a plan to get into the building and figure out where the Sun Tear was being stored. As the name implied, the actual burrow was underground. Considering how old the storage bunker was, this building was far newer.

Perhaps there was an alternative. Adrian turned and backed away around the corner, to avoid being seen by the gangers.

"There's got to be a way through the sewers." Adrian turned to Lex. "This place would be a fortress if they got in, there's no way such a bounty would be left to only shambling foot soldiers."

She spotted a manhole down the avenue, back toward the car. "Can we get that open?"

Lex spun and turned toward the collapsed wall of a nearby building across the street. After sprinting across, he began to swipe small chunks of rubble away.

"What are you doing? Can't you use magic or something to just move it?" Adrian spoke with a hushed yell.

Finding a thin rod within, he tried to flex it with his hands to no avail. With a satisfied nod, he ran over to the metal sewer cover and wedged the rod into the gap. He put all his weight onto the bar and opened the manhole after a bit of strain.

"The simplest solutions are usually the best." Lex displayed the rod, then tossed it back into the rubble.

With the sewer opened, Lex spared no time and produced a small flashlight from his belt and shined it down the hole.

"What, no magic to light the way?" Adrian spoke with feigned disappointment.

Irritated, Lex shined the flashlight in her face. "Do you like having light blaring in your eyes? That's what would happen if I held an orb of light in my hand." He returned the beam back down to the sewer. "It looks clear. I'll lead the way."

Before Adrian could respond, Lex bit down on the flashlight so to hold it in his mouth and slid into the open manhole. Looking around for any sign of someone following and finding no one, Adrian followed Lex down. With only the light from the street and the faint beam below, Adrian latched onto the ladder rungs embedded in the circular stone wall of the sewer.

After a short climb down, Adrian landed a foot on the cylindrical tunnel of the sewer. She produced a pen-sized flashlight from her coat pocket and took stock of her surroundings. There were only two directions they could travel and only one led toward the tower. This must have been a relief drain because there wasn't enough room for them to stand side-by-side. Adrian motioned for Lex to start moving. Expecting a straight shot, she was taken by surprise when the sewer began winding and descending. There were no intersections, just one continuous stretch of tunnel.

They finally arrived at an obsidian doorway at the end of the obnoxiously long sewer. Adrian had no idea how far down the tunnel brought them. To the side of the door was a small panel much like the ones back at the hotel.

"Acara apparently set this up for me to enter. If not, I hope you're ready to start beating this door down." Adrian started to reach over Lex's arm for the bio reader.

"Good luck with that. The burrows are known for their resilience. There are records of them surviving direct nuclear and meteor strikes."

Adrian's hand moved closer to the scanner. "Can't you rip the door off with magic?"

"It's incantation, not divine intervention."

Her finger touched the reader, and nothing happened. With anger and frustration, Adrian pressed harder. Then the lights beneath the reader blinked to life with an electrical sigh and produced a distorted yet harsh buzz.

"Wait, wait." Lex swiped his glove over the scanner and a pile of clumpy dust fell to the ground. "It was dirty, try again."

With an irritated grumble, Adrian pressed against the bio reader. The lights blinked in a strip pattern, indicating it was thinking. Then the lights disappeared and with an artifacted chirp, the door began to slide open. First it began to grind, like something was stuck in the gap between the door and the wall. Then with a violent hiss, the obsidian shot into the wall, the door forcibly opened itself. Adrian recoiled in fear from the noise and suddenness of the movement.

Inside was dimly lit, only a few small bowl lights dangled from the corners of the room. Adrian spotted several large boxes silhouetted against the faint lighting.

"Is this the burrow?" She placed a hesitant hand upon the edge of the doorway and peered deeper in.

"Just an antechamber of some kind. Burrows go much deeper. If this sewer actually took us all the way down, we would have needed to camp out halfway." Lex stepped through the open door and onto a metal grate staircase.

Adrian stepped inside, which the staircase was wide enough for both of them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. The gateway slid shut as they swept the beams of their flashlights across the room. The silhouetted boxes were iron cages. Adrian was filled with anxiety, unsure of what they contained.

As she stepped down the stairs to get a closer look, a chittering voice rang out in the far distance.

"…and we'll have another shipment coming in shortly next week. Expect these to be delivered within a few days." The high-pitched voice spoke to someone.

The two extinguished their flashlights in a panic. Adrian stopped her descent at the first landing and crouched down, holding onto the rusty railing, and controlling her breathing. Lex froze where he was with a strained look on his face as he began whispering to himself.

Suddenly lights overhead ignited, and the area was blasted with a harsh artificial white illumination. Lex jumped from his step down to the landing with both feet slamming and echoing out. He swept his cape over Adrian. As two figures rounded the corner of the far staircase across the room, Lex and Adrian faded from sight, his cape covering them in a field much like what hid her car. They were almost visible if you knew what to look for.

"What was that noise?" The high-pitched, nasally voice called out nervously.

"Go on, what's so special about this shipment?" The baritone voice of the kingpin replied.

The cybernetic horror was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, and wearing a massive trench coat with cyan stripes that gave off the same color glow.

The kingpin was with a horribly disfigured Paingul ganger. He had five eyes: four were cybernetic and peppered his face like acne. The last was his natural left eye. His right was just a gaping eye socket. He had titanium spike top teeth that chewed his bottom lip away, leaving his bottom teeth permanently exposed. He only had one arm but was wearing multiple dirty linen gowns wrapped around his body.

Adrian gasped in shock at the sight of a Skab leader freely and openly mingling with a Paingul. They were bitter rivals. The mere fact of them together in the same room should have sparked a turf war. But they were here, walking together like fast friends.

"We've experimented on some of them, and they seem like a promising cohort." The ganger chirped.

"You said that about the last one." The kingpin sounded irate.

"Yes but—"

"And the one before that."

"I know and—"

"The one sent before that one too." The kingpin's irritation began to tip toward the edge of fury. "Those psychedelics are turning your brain to mush."

The Paingul let off a bashful chuckle. "I assure you, this time it will be better."

"Assurances from your kind are little better than used toilet paper." The kingpin's deadpan voice rang out as he observed the prisoners, refusing to look at his rival ganger. "I've seen enough. These better be the real thing this time or you'll answer to me."

With a melting coyness, the Paingul's disposition changed from sniveling to disdainful. "You're only here because of our… arrangement with the consortium. And it's a long way back to Skab territory."

Adrian swallowed hard at the thought of the consortium somehow forging an alliance with the gangs.

The comment seemed to give the kingpin pause. He turned and disappeared into the hall atop the stairway across the room. With a scoff, the Paingul turned to follow him. But like a bloodhound catching a scent in the wind, he turned and stared at the two afar. It was like he could see through Lex's invisibility field. Then, as if his nose was magnetically attracted to the ceiling, he stared in shock upwards for a moment, then his expression eased, and his attention turned to the hallway to depart so to follow the kingpin.

Lex latched onto Adrian by her shoulder. to insist they both remain still. After what felt like hours, the lights in the room dimmed to darkness and Lex relaxed his grip. With the flick of his wrist, the invisibility cloak tumbled into the shadows.

"There's more to that guy than cybernetics." Lex shuddered.

"Who, the giant?" Adrian thought he was talking about the kingpin.

"No, the other one. A titan among men."

Adrian cocked her head in confusion, how could such a frail, disfigured guy be considered a threat? She descended the stairs and reignited her flashlight. Looking through the pens, Adrian gasped in horror at what she found.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared into the cage and her heart sank. Staring back was a young girl, no older than seven. The young one was in tattered rags, and the inside of the cage was filthy. Adrian looked around for something to break the padlock.

"Help me get them out of there." Adrian spoke with authority.

Grabbing onto the lock, Lex chanted to himself and his hand glowed blue in the darkness. The metal froze solid and with the flick of his wrist, he shattered the padlock into chunks. Slapping the dangling hook away, he opened the gate.

"Come child." Lex beckoned with both hands, urgent. As he continued to break open the cages, he shouted to Adrian. "What are we going to do with them?"

"Can't you whisk them away, like you did with me?" Adrian pleaded.

"I wish. The best I can do is to get one partially up the tunnel." Lex's disappointed tone tugged at Adrian's heart. "There's no way we could possibly evacuate all of them."

"We can do it." Adrian continued to search for something to break the locks.

"Even if we filled your car to the brim—" Lex continued to snap padlocks as he spoke.

"I'll figure it out, just keep going." Adrian didn't hold back her anger.

As her flashlight passed over a cage, the sight of the child sparked a sense of familiarity. Adrian stopped and shined the light in to get a better look, crouching down to get on the child's level.

"Sarah." Adrian called out, a mote of hope in her heart.

The little girl nodded, fearful.

"Sarah MacDonell."

With hesitation, the girl nodded again, frightened. A wave of relief washed over Adrian, grateful for there finally to be some good news. It was the wannabe-ganger's sister. Perhaps the jaws of Nocturine weren't as ironclad as they used to be.

"Donnie sent me. I'm here to bring you home." Adrian wanted to comfort her but was as bound by the iron bars as was the child. "He's been looking for you."

The shell-shocked girl edged closer. Despite her trembling, a mote of hope broke through the terror. "Really?"

As Adrian began to nod and reassure the child, a horrific cry blared out from within the hallway at the top of the stairs. Sarah darted into the back corner of her cage, besieged by horror. The one shouting from afar was an enraged Paingul footpad. His hollering embodied as much agony as it did rage.

He had no mouth and his tongue wagged like a snake in open air. His arms were pinned behind his back and from his gut, several fleshy, tendril-like appendages snapped and flailed as he stumbled toward the staircase with a jittering, unmeasured gait. Behind him, another in similar stature. It was a group of Paingul footpads on approach. The footpad locked onto Adrian and shook his shoulders, shouting with chaotic abandon.

Adrian let out a war cry in like-fashion while drawing her revolver. "Suck lead!" She squeezed the trigger and the muzzle blast almost knocked her to the ground.

With ringing ears, she recovered. The Paingul's head disappeared in a pink mist and his neck sheared to a stump. She shuddered at the raw power of her weapon. As her dazzled ears eased, she could hear the panicked cries of the children within the cages. Adrian desired with every cell in her body to get them out of here as fast as she could.

The footpad's body continued to advance, and his appendages flailed with fury.

"They're infected." Lex shouted as he magically threw himself atop the cages.

"Of course they are." Adrian's venomous words filled the room.

The dismembered Paingul edged closer to the staircase.

Adrian took aim and leaned forward, bracing herself for the overwhelming force of her gun's recoil. With a moment of hesitation, she took aim at the decapitated Paingul's torso. Tensing every muscle in her body, she squeezed on the trigger. Another blast lit the room for a second. After recovering from the shot, she noticed its upper body split in half down to its navel and was thrown to the ground.

But despite the zombie's body nearly being torn to shreds, it rolled to get its lame appendages under it and struggled to its feet once more. Behind, two more Paingul footpads cried out in anguish and rage as they approached. Adrian felt likewise a similar grief, realizing the window for freeing the children was rapidly closing, seeing yet more Paingul footpads on approach.

The dark room glowed an azure blue as Lex finished his incantation. With a flat circle in front of him, he thrust his open palm through and the circular plane exploded into hundreds of ice shards. He flicked his elbow, and they barraged the group, shredding the gangers with frozen serrated daggers. They stumbled and writhed as the shards tore through their flesh but after a moment, they recovered and continued advancing, letting out gleeful howls. Adrian gritted her teeth, disgusted and angry at the sudden realization—this was why they were called the 'Pain-Ghouls'. They were driven by their love of pain.

Adrian took aim in desperation, hoping the third shot would split the zombie in half. She braced and yanked the trigger, ready to get it over with. The blast lit the room. But as her eyes recovered, she found a figure balancing on the railing of the stairway, letting off an obnoxious belly laugh. Before him, a translucent purple shell spanned the entire width of the walkway. It deflected Adrian's bullet, which embedded itself in the concrete wall far off to his side. The zombie she aimed at continued its advance. Familiarity then mixed with dread. It was Silas, the blood mage adeptus.

"I see you're back for more, dear apprentice." The adeptus folded his hands in front of his black and violet robes.

The zombie began to fumble, trying to figure out how to descend the stairwell, and blocking the others from getting closer.

"Something troubles me though." The adeptus paced on the railing. "You're a chaos arcanist, much like me." He started.

"I'm no such thing, craven." Lex held back rage as his hands filled with light, conjuring a spell.

"Of course you are. The focus on water and wind. You're drawn to chaos like a moth to a flame. But why haven't you taken the plunge? Blood is both of those things. To command the very essence of life… it's invigorating." Silas cackled.

"It would be for a weakling like you." Lex gritted his teeth.

With the thrust of his hand, Lex unleashed the spell at the blood mage. With the swipe of his hand, Silas produced a violet shield with hexagonal tiles before him, laughing. The sphere of light burst but nothing else happened. It was a diversion.

"Ineffectual. I see why you never had the balls to take hold of real power." Silas sneered.

As the sphere of light exploded, Lex flicked his wrist, throwing Bardo at Adrian. The cape darted through the air and wrapped around Adrian's shoulders, beneath her jacket. Before she could react, the black bolt of lightning whisked her up the steps, past the group and through the ajar bulkhead on the far wall.

"Go find the Sun Tear!" Lex's voice echoed out from the cage pit. "I'll hold them off."

Wanting to protest, Adrian realized it would only cost her the time he bought for her. Now with Bardo on her shoulders, she could see a glow deep within the structure, like a light that cut through the walls and floor.

"Bardo, is that the Sun Tear?" Adrian spoke about the unnatural light that pierced from below, while running down the long concrete corridor, otherwise illuminated only by dim red emergency lights.

"The Seed of Evil's Bane rests far below here, yes."

"Can you show me the way down?"

"It calls to you, just follow its voice." Bardo spoke softly, bashfully.

Adrian turned the only corner which led into a deep, spiraling stairwell. At the bottom, not far was the Sun Tear. It was a sense much like feeling the sun overhead or hearing the wind blow. Bounding down steps, she found herself winded by the time she got down the thirty, maybe forty sets of staircases. At the bottom was an open bulkhead and a long, dark hallway. The light penetrated the surroundings but didn't illuminate anything around, like a freight train barreling toward her from afar.

With careful steps, unable to see forward, Adrian listened for any sign of danger. The farther she traveled, the thicker the moisture in the air grew. On the walls around her, dense ivy sprawled up the wall from nowhere. By the time she reached an obsidian gateway at the end, there were orange and blue flowers blooming from the vines, giving off a bioluminescent glow. The air was warm and smelled of sweet flora.

Adrian swiped her hand on the reader. After a long while it blinked to life and began to think, the line of indicators ignited and dimmed in succession across the gateway's panel. Then it extinguished with an electrical buzz. The gateway hissed and cutting most of the thorny vines away, revealed a small opening. She psyched herself up and dove through the hole in the prickly ivy.

Inside, was a dark, nondescript room. The only light within was produced by a small flame-shaped stone hovering above a charred wooden pedestal. The Sun Tear. Adrian raced over and snatched it up. In moments, it felt like her gut was on fire. The overwhelming scorching sensation that filled her chest brought Adrian to her knees. She held onto the pedestal in order to keep her legs from buckling.

You must endure. Or all is lost.

Adrian heard Dalmytrias's voice echo in her mind. She steeled herself and began to put all her might into standing up.

Applause from a single person at the doorway startled Adrian as she rose to her feet. The stranger stepped into the light and yet more familiarity caught her off guard.

"I know you." Adrian muttered.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian struggled to stay upright as her grip on the Sun Tear continued to burn her from the inside out. With waning determination, she fought to hold a grasp on the small stone. Each second passing, she felt her guts turning to molten lava. Moreso, the moment she placed her hand on the rock, a familiar stranger appeared through the doorway. She knew his face but the agony within stopped her from recalling his name.

"Almsworth Penniford." The regal man's voice called out from the doorway. "We've met before."

As he stepped into the light, his black and purple robe, adorned with silver thread, shimmered and wagged. It was the gentleman who saved her from being mugged yesterday. The last time she met him he was wearing more formal attire. If the adeptus was anything to go by, this guy was another one of Meredeth's goons.

"It seems you're having a bit of trouble there. Perhaps I can be of assistance." His voice was calm, soothing. Alm held out his hand toward the Sun Tear. "Here, allow me."

As much as she wanted relief from the inferno within her innards, she immediately sensed a threat. "I can't do that." She struggled to speak, sweat pouring down her face.

Alm retracted his hand and folded both in front of his navel. "Oh, I see." His voice was curious, without a hint of agitation. "Well, I have time to wait. That thing will turn you to soup in no time anyways. It's better to let someone trained handle it."

A sudden gust of fury within Adrian's gut from the nonchalant dismissal of her effort stoked the fires within. Strangely, it eased the pain. "Fair enough. Come here often?" She fought the desire to unleash a volley of rage-tinged words at him, sarcasm would have to suffice. As she spoke, Adrian continued to push herself upright to stand again.

Alm gave a reserved belly laugh and shook his head. "I have to say, I am a bit envious. Every attempt to get into this room has been fruitless. It has been years since I started and got nowhere. But in only a few moments stepped in and claimed what I have desired for almost a decade. Bravo."

"What can I say? I've got connections in high places." Adrian struggled to speak, the burning weakening her from within. "You should meet them sometime, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to meet you."

With a hum in humoring acknowledgement, he gave a weak nod. "Yes, I'm certain they would. Who sent you, let me see…" he began to tap his chin. "It was Leiel." He pointed at Adrian.

Adrian's leg gave out and she fell to one knee, the shock sucking the wind out of her gut. How did he know her aunt's name?

"No, I know. It was the Lunar Huntress, that she-devil." Alm gave a reassured smirk. "Always meddling, too fearful to step into the light."

Wincing from the pain, Adrian pushed hard to stand upright. She needed to bluff, see if she could get this guy to spill more beans, figure out if he had a weakness. "Wrong. It was Meredeth."

Alm's jubilant composure melted and his eye twitched. "Don't you dare speak her name you worthless pissant. You will give her the respect she is owed."

Adrian suppressed a smile, finding a juicy spot to sink her hooks. "Where is ol' Mere nowadays? I've been meaning to catch up with the girl. She's so hard to get a hold of." The delight from throwing him off balance made standing upright almost simple.

Thrusting his arm down, Alm spoke a language Adrian couldn't recognize and with a magical force, pushed her back down to one knee.

"You will bow in deference to the Lady." Alm's voice was intense, laced with impotent rage. "She is the rightful ruler of all mankind. When I claim the Sun Tear, she will return, and we will rebuild this world in her image."

"Bardo, it's time to go." Adrian hushed out.

The cloak sprung to life, shuffling around beneath her jacket. "Ow, ow, fire, fire hot!"

A sudden coolness filled Adrian as the cloak whisked off her and fell to rest upon an invisible figure. Then beneath the cloak, a blue-hot flame ignited and gave way to a gargantuan form. The fire was in the shape of Dalmytrias. Adrian stood and stared in awe.

Recoiling at the sight, Alm shuddered, recognizing the shape of the angel as well. "You're supposed to be dead. Gone for centuries. It's too late, the Sun Tear can't bring you back!"

The flame hissed and threw Bardo off. Like a wave upon the shore, the figure melted and surged toward Alm. He threw his hands forward in a panic, producing a magenta hexagonal-tiled barrier that was being whittled away by the surging flame. The ivy that lined the outside hall ignited and began bellowing smoke.

Adrian, now relieved, jumped and snatched Bardo from the air and draped him over her arm. Cradling the cape like a child, she dove through the flaming doorway and into the smoke-laden hall. Crouched while dashing, she couldn't see, and used the glow of the emergency lights as a guide toward the stairwell.

"Don't tell me he cooked you." She choked out, speaking to the limp Bardo on her arm.

Reaching the steps, the massive stairwell was only a minor relief from the choking air that filled the hall. The middle of the stairwell welled with smoke and at the very top of the ceiling, bellowed and continued to surge by the second. She had little time to get out of here before it would be impossible to flee. Hugging the outer wall, Adrian began her ascent. The Sun Tear began to boil her innards again, but with all her might and with adrenaline coursing through her burning veins, she fought to stay upright and climbing.

Through what only could be described as a miracle, she climbed all forty flights of stairs just as her legs began to give out. But the top was only the beginning of getting out of here. She needed to find Lex and get the kids away from this place. Taking a small break and leaning crouched against the wall, she patted Bardo.

"Don't tell me you're dead. I need you." Adrian spoke with panic and sorrow.

The cloak didn't move. Continuing to pat it like a sleeping child, she hoped it wasn't over for the thing.

"C'mon, we've got to go."

Then it stirred. Her eyes widened with optimism. Then Bardo flicked and began bolting around the top of the stairwell, whisking away smoke as he darted, letting off black lightning bolts. Adrian covered her head, worried he was going to smack her in the face. Then with a final jolt, he wrapped around Adrian, under her coat.

"I'm awake. Phew, that was a wild ride." Bardo chirped, his voice laced with nervousness.

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you were a goner."

"Quite the opposite. I've never felt better. Strangely I feel too good. But that's neither here nor there." The cloak spoke with a hyper tone. "Come on, we have to find Lex."

Bardo tugged on Adrian like a dog would pull on an owner's leash. He yanked her upright and began shoving her forward. Her weak knees buckling didn't send her tumbling. It was almost like she was running on air as the cloak whisked her down the long hallway toward the bulkhead to the cage pens.

"Bardo be careful, there's zombies around here." Adrian worried he was going to ram her straight into the middle of an undead horde.

But he wasn't listening. They accelerated and blasted through the ajar bulkhead into the next room. It was well lit now; all the lights were on. And it was empty. Adrian latched onto the railing to stop them. She gripped it with all her strength, desperate to find out what was going on.

As she grasped, the force from Bardo sent her airborne and whipped her head-over-heels, landing on her feet delicately. There was nothing here, it was just an empty open area. No cages. No gangers. No bodies. Nothing. Adrian cursed, in a fit.

"He's coming after us." Bardo called out in a panic, still volatile.

The cloak was talking about Alm. Adrian walked down the steps and onto the metal grate floor that wasn't there before. She looked up and found the ceiling different too. They must have raised the whole area somehow.

"Lex!" Adrian took a chance to call out, suddenly desperate to know if he was alright.

After several attempts and hearing nothing back, a meek voice called out for help in the corner. Adrian spun in a panic. It was a child, an unexpected respondent.

"Come, come. We must go." Adrian turned to the child and beckoned with her arms while staring at the sealed obsidian door. They would have to take the sewers out of here.

The little girl emerged from the shadows, in tattered rags and rushed for Adrian. Adrian tugged at Bardo, trying to pull him out from under her jacket. "Wrap her up."

Bardo darted out and the royal blue cloak enveloped the child as Adrian scooped her up with her free hand. As Adrian spun and rushed for the obsidian door, a wild cry burst out from the bulkhead across the room. Alm was close.

Adrian swiped her finger across the bio reader and the door began to open. Then she turned to find Alm charging up a massive violet fireball in front of his chest, ready to strike them from across the room.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared with terror at the violet fireball ascending over Alm's head as he continued to conjure it. The sphere of flame expanded, letting off green bolts of lightning as the scintillating orb collided with the smoke billowing from the bulkhead. Like a tornado sucking up a building, the fireball began to consume the smoke which only made its spikey core grow even more chaotic.

From the corner of her eye, Adrian spotted the gateway was open enough for her to fit through. With salvation in her grasp, she spun around and darted through the door and slapped the bio reader on the other side in the hopes it would stop opening and slam shut. Alm hurled the massive fireball at Adrian.

The gateway smashed shut a moment before the violet flame collided with it. Through the obsidian, searing pops and hisses rang out. Within the sewer, it grew frosty, as if the dead of winter suddenly set in. Despite wearing a jacket, Adrian began to violently shiver, on the verge of frostbite, despite the heat that coursed through her from grasping the Sun Tear. Ascending the spiraling sewer, even at the top, near the ladder up to the street, the bitter cold chased her like an unrelenting, ravenous mongrel snapping at Adrian's ankles.

With no other choice but to risk a burn on the child, Adrian swept the girl into her other arm with the hand that grasped the Sun Tear. With desperate grabs, she began yanking herself up the ladder to the surface using only a single, tremoring hand. Beneath her, from deeper within the sewer, a wave of frost blew past the ladder and bathed the passage below in a layer of ice. Then it began creeping up behind Adrian. With each rung the cold snap reached, the metal began to compress and buckle, sheering the ladder beneath her. The stone bricks of the tunnel began to crack and heave as the frost line advanced, causing the structure to shift and deform as the ice ascended.

Rolling out of the manhole in desperation as her legs began to give out from exhaustion, Adrian covered the girl with her body as the wave of frost exploded upwards into the sky like a broken fire hydrant hurling water. Overhead dark clouds formed and began to crackle with violent thunder that shook the ground as warm air collided with the unnatural, unrelenting cold. Lightning smashed into the pavement, tearing it to pieces, repeatedly striking the exposed metal girders of broken buildings around them. Smoke began to rise as the storm ignited fires in the area. The girl was eerily calm throughout this, unstirred by the chaos that struck fear into Adrian's heart.

As the air temperature dropped sharply, the storms ceased. With a bitter resolve, Adrian struggled to her feet just as the frost creeped out along the asphalt and nipped at her heels. Limping from exhaustion because the Sun Tear was sapping her strength, she threw herself into each step with grunts and groans. Out of breath, it was only a block or so to the car. Behind her, the buildings directly above the sewer were already coated in an ever-creeping, ever-spreading ice that didn't relent even in the presence of growing building fires that spread across the area.

Reaching the parking lot, Adrian squinted, remembering roughly where the car was but unable to see the ethereal translucence that Lex's spell gave off. She continued her lumbering advance, feeling with her free hand for the car. Getting too close to the building at the end of the parking lot, she worried that somehow a ganger or scavenger figured out where it was and took off with her vehicle. Heart sinking further with every step, and frost reaching the edge of the parking lot behind her, the situation seemed hopeless. The car was gone.

Then the cold sparked more thunder and bolts of lightning, which reflected off the buildings and filled the area. With the sudden light, Adrian spotted the flicker of Lex's invisibility sheet wagging in the gale produced by the oncoming cold front. Psyching herself up, she threw everything into hobble-sprinting to the car. Not bothering to pull it off, she decided driving around invisible is more of a boon than a curse. Flicking the sheet up to open the door, Adrian flopped into the seat, covering the girl's head as Adrian's legs collapsed under her. After jamming the girl in the seat, Adrian used all her strength to push the clutch in and start the car.

The vehicle sputtered for a moment as the creeping cold dropped the temperatures around the car. The frost line was only a few steps away as Adrian slammed the door shut, shifted with her free hand, jabbed the throttle to redline the car and dropped the clutch. They burst into motion only seconds before the ice reached the tires.

Trying to juggle holding the Sun Tear, steer, and shift was a challenge. As they drifted out from the parking lot onto the road, Adrian narrowly missed slamming into a rusty vehicle frame abandoned on the side of the street. Feathering the throttle and letting the wheels grip, they snapped into motion and launched down the road. Adrian struggled to see as the invisibility sheet clinging to the car began to shift her surroundings. It was like trying to drive underwater—easy to see things close, nearly impossible to make out fine details afar.

Adrian breathed in a bid to calm herself, her legs shaking, gut burning and aching from the Sun Tear, and her arms tremoring from exhaustion. She talked herself down from losing herself to panic and terror from what just happened as her adrenaline began to dump. Turning to the child, attempting to take her mind off staring overwhelming death in the face, Adrian decided to focus on someone else.

"Are you alright, are you hurt?" Adrian couldn't hold back a shaken tone.

"Everything will be alright." The girl spoke with an ironclad resolve.

The way the child spoke made Adrian even more nervous. Something was wrong with her, did she get brainwiped or something? Why was she so calm?

"O—of course it will, sweetie. We're safe now." Adrian's rapid breathing caused her to stutter as she was out of breath.

"No, we aren't. We're not safe. She's coming." The girl stared straight out the windshield, unperturbed by even her own revelation.

Adrian leaned forward, in a bid to see what was afar and keep good pace. "Who's coming?" The sentiment somehow made her even more unsettled.

"The Queen of Sin. She is inevitable." The girl spoke in a flat tone.

Choking on her own breath, Adrian tried to steady herself. "That's just something those bad men said. It's not true, they don't know what they're talking about." Adrian needed to get the girl's mind elsewhere as well, clearly traumatized. "Do you know your parents' names?"

"Those men didn't say that. They don't know what they're doing." The girl turned to Adrian. As they passed under a bridge, the child's azure eyes suddenly illuminated in the shadow. "I know. That's why I'm telling you."

Adrian shuddered in fear. "Why are you telling me? I could be a bad guy. I might be taking you to Meredeth right now. You gave yourself away."

The girl shook her head and closed her eyes, confident. "Not possible. You are the seeker of the lost and unchosen. You can't be evil."

Swallowing hard, the child's words struck Adrian's heart, despite her best effort to dismiss them as nothing more than the words of trauma. "W—what's your name?"

"Cordelia." The girl pulled Bardo tighter around her body.

Adrian nodded, letting relief wash over her as they finally changed the topic to something a bit more grounded. "Cordelia. Nice to meet you I'm—"

"Adrianna. I know." Cordelia spoke matter-of-factly.

They were closing in on the border plaza, about to cross the wall.

"H—how do you know that?" Adrian contemplated blowing through the emergency lane at full speed.

"He keeps talking about you." Cordelia glanced at the Sun Tear. "More like yelling."

"Yelling? About me?" Adrian cocked a nervous eyebrow. She was talking about Dalmytrias.

The girl nodded. "He's pretty mad."

Adrian swallowed. "A—at me?"

Cordelia shrugged. "He's hard to understand. And really mad. Really, really mad."

Shuddering, Adrian's grip on the steering wheel tightened, hoping the child misunderstood what was happening. Then she blinked and wondered how the girl could even know what the angel was talking about, being dead. Adrian wondered if she was becoming delirious, the levels of spiritual indirection were beginning to make her dizzy. Or maybe it was the Sun Tear turning her guts to soup.

With grit teeth, Adrian decided to risk blowing through the emergency lane and hope the cameras didn't pick them up. If they did, this was going to be a short, complicated trip. If she stopped, it was going to be a shorter, more complicated trip. Adrian couldn't withstand the drain from the Sun Tear to go the long way and hope she could schmooze her way back into New Downtown.

Gripping the steering wheel with one hand and two fingers from the other, she let off the gas and pushed the clutch in to idle the engine. Rolling into the emergency lane, they blew past the booth and glided into New Downtown. Adrian looked around for any sign of the checkpoint going into full lockdown mode. No armored guards. No guns. No yelling. As if they were going to jump out in front of her. Though the car was fast, it wasn't fast enough to outrun them dumping mags into it in a bid to stop her.

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the checkpoint onto the six-lane road back toward the highway. Then police cars with sirens blaring slid into the intersection en masse.

 

[machinedhearts]

In a panic, Adrian weaved away from the oncoming procession of emergency vehicles, her car still wrapped up in the invisibility sheet Lex conjured. Pulling off to the side, she skidded to a stop. Anger melded with fear, realizing she was caught. Blowing through the border plaza was a stupid idea.

But her eyes grew wide, and surprise washed away her anger as she realized the convoy wasn't coming after her. It was responding to the oncoming wave of frost that expanded outwards from the black tower and was chasing Adrian's vehicle. In her rear-view mirror, frozen residential buildings and towers peppered the skyline behind.

Fire trucks blockaded the thoroughfare to the wall. Police cars surrounded them. The emergency crew dismounted their vehicles in awe of the unseasonably frozen landscape in front of them.

"What the hell are we supposed to do about that?" A firefighter shouted, pointing at the oncoming cold front rushing toward the gate plaza.

"I'm not going out there." Another firefighter spoke to him. "I don't get paid enough for that."

"Is that thing chasing us?" Adrian thought out loud.

"Yes." Cordelia spoke flatly.

With wide eyes and fearful, Adrian dropped the clutch and raced toward the highway. She blitzed up the onramp at full speed and dove into traffic. Weaving through staggered columns of vehicles, Adrian treated them like obstacles in motion. The entire road was hers; they were just guests. Shifting with her wrist, her hand still holding the Sun Tear, Adrian hammered the brakes and throttle, hurling her car between lanes. When traffic got thick, she took to the shoulder and continued racing along, the emergency lane just wide enough to fit her car.

"I could get used to this." Adrian cackled, enjoying avoiding traffic all together.

In less than half the time it took her to get to the wall from the Order's base, Adrian returned. Despite the invisibility shroud, the gates parted as she neared. With her crossing, the sheet flickered and dissipated, flecks of the iridescent shroud whisked away in the wind. Parking at the edge of the building's main entrance awning, Adrian exited the car and Cordelia followed.

Adrian scooped up the girl and rushed for the cathedral, the way they came in when she brought Dalmytrias in. As she descended the steps into the concrete trench, Adrian found a thick metal barrier blocking the path down. Gritting her teeth in agitation, she spun and rushed back up and into the front door.

In the adorned lobby, she expected to see Tank still coordinating the cleanup of the undead, but there was only a gathering of clergy at the far corner. Their tall pearl hats and thick gray beards swayed as the group stopped chatting among each other and stared at Adrian.

"I have it." Adrian displayed her fist with the Sun Tear within, utterly drained from the artefact boiling her innards.

The priests looked at each other and the most elder stepped forward. He wore a white robe adorned with gold. His expression was that of concern, thinking she was raving mad. "My child. What is it you have?"

"The Sun Tear. I found it." Speaking those words brought relief upon Adrian's spirit. "I'm holding it here in my hand."

He smiled calmly, politely. "That's not possible. No human could bear to touch such an object for even a moment. You seem unwell, perhaps we—"

Adrian opened her hand and displayed the stone in her palm. It glowed as if it were heated in a forge. The outer edges were red and the inner core scintillated orange. The air around her hand danced. Cordelia cowered and buried her face in Adrian's shoulder.

The elder priest's eyes widened, and his wise expression melted away for shock. Spinning on his heels, the clergyman hurried his fellow priests and they herded themselves toward the elevator. The elder scurried over toward Adrian, but kept a wide berth, offering for her to move toward the elevator with his arms.

"We must act now. Come." The priest nodded then rushed over to the front desk and muttered something to the staff, who burst into action.

Adrian, vindicated, meticulously wrapped her fingers around the Sun Tear and walked over to the elevator. The elder held the door as she stepped on. She stood next to the control panel while the group pinned themselves into the corner, as far away from her as possible. Cordelia peeked at the men nervously over Adrian's shoulder.

After a short descent, they arrived at the cathedral level. As soon as the doors parted, the omnipresent choir sung a chaotic, discordant cry. The sound was so loud it startled, and she jumped, smacking into the wall as a shiver ran up her super-heated spine.

"What is that noise?" Adrian winced as she shouted at the priests, pushing herself to leave the lift.

The clergy whispered to each other, each of them looking concerned and doubtful.

"You hear a noise?" The elder priest stepped around her, keeping a good distance as he began to lead the group into the chapel.

Adrian shouted at him, unable to hear what he was saying. The priest repeated himself, louder.

"It's like a bunch of people yelling constantly. It wasn't so bad when they were singing but right now it sounds like they're getting stabbed to death." Adrian pushed her shoulder into her ear in a fruitless attempt to block out the noise.

"The Chorus of the Ancients. The spiritual gathering of Orators past, come together in unison to sing their decrees."

"What's an Orator?" Adrian's ears grew used to the chaos filling the room.

"The rightful rulers of this land. Those who speak the will of the people into being." A familiar, delicate feminine voice called out from afar, overpowering the cacophony.

Standing at the altar over Dalmytrias's body was Adrian's aunt Leiel. Her short-cut blond hair shimmered in the glow that shined through the stained glass. She wore a white tunic and leggings with tear-shaped metal pauldrons. In the light, Leiel's porcelain skin was even more radiant. For as long as Adrian could remember, Leiel retained her youth.

Adrian never saw her wear such an eccentric outfit in her life and was shaken by the presence of her aunt in such a place. Stopping her advance halfway to the altar, Adrian took a moment to collect herself and remembered the pictures in her pocket.

"What are you doing here?" Adrian's voice trembled, only partially from exhaustion.

The elder priest stepped forward and readied to speak but Leiel raised her hand, and the priest bowed his head in retreat behind Adrian.

"I have a lot of explaining to do." Leiel spoke matter-of-factly.

"Let's start from the beginning." Adrian demanded.

The elder stepped forward in a bid to usher Adrian toward the altar, but Leiel whisked her hand and shooed him away, an unspoken commandment from afar. The priests collected themselves at the end of the pews near the main entrance and folded their hands, stilled by Leiel's command.

"There are more important things at hand." Leiel's voice grew flat, the warmth that she usually spoke with suddenly turned off.

"No, this is damn-well the most important thing right now." Adrian brandished her fist holding the Sun Tear. "Unless you don't need this."

Leiel let off a disgruntled sigh. "Which beginning would you prefer?"

"The one where my parents' deaths weren't a freak accident but murder."

Leiel nodded and stared down at Dalmytrias. "The most complicated one."

"So? What's the story?" Adrian stepped forward, enraged. The burning in her gut grew with her anger and with its expansion, her body felt lighter, less tired.

Cordelia shifted and grunted, shaking her head in discomfort.

"Put her down." Leiel looked up and demanded, pointing to the child."

Adrian looked at the girl in frustration, then crouched down and eased her onto the red carpet. "It's good to see there is someone that you actually care about."

"Cordelia, come." Leiel held her hands out.

The girl sprinted over to Leiel and hid behind her.

Adrian's rage grew and within, the fire expanded into an inferno that reached all corners of her body. "Great, now I'm the bad guy, is that it?"

"You are scaring her." Leiel pulled the girl behind her. "Let us be calm, no one is calling you a bad guy. And I do care about you."

"Don't tell me to be calm." Adrian shouted at the top of her lungs, suddenly unable to control her emotions. The flames of the candelabras all around stretched and turned blue in wild fire.

"You are right. I am sorry." Leiel displayed both palms to Adrian. "What can I do to make this right?"

"Tell me what I want to know!" Adrian closed on Leiel. The two stared at each other over the dead angel.

Leiel nodded, focused on every word Adrian spoke. "It is true. Your parents were not in an accident. They were murdered."

Adrian paced, bewildered by the statement and how bluntly her aunt spoke.

"Why did they—?" Adrian ran her free hand over her hair. "No, who did it? Tell me right now."

"It was m—" Leiel started.

Acara interrupted her, calling out from the main doors. "Don't lie to the poor girl." The Order leader stepped forward in her black leather combat suit. "You spent the most time with her but don't have the respect to tell her the truth."

Leiel's face painted over with shock. "Do not—" She shook her head.

The Order leader leaned her high caliber rifle against the back pew. "Your dear aunt has grown soft in her old age. Try not to be too hard on her."

Adrian spun on her heels and squared up with Acara, furious. The Order leader closed on Adrian and loomed with determined eyes and a half-cocked smirk.

"You want to know who killed your parents?" Acara spoke with a grizzled tone.

"Luna…" Leiel spoke to Acara, but her voice trailed off with nervousness.

"More than anything." Adrian gritted her teeth.

The Order leader leaned down and got in Adrian's face. "It was me. I killed your parents."