Dark Energy by carlsojos

Chapter 31

After a couple days' time, Ray and I find the blackened walls and scorched earth where Aiedo once lay. Even outside the old city wall, I could see something glinting around where pieces of burning rubble fell. Ray tries to pick up a piece, and it comes with part of the sand it had laid on. Damn, it must've been quite the inferno. I give Ray a puzzled look. You see this sand? How it turned into one smooth piece? That's how they make glass. It takes a crap load of heat to do that, and it's almost impossible outside a kiln. I can't believe a burning city has that kind of heat.

We make our way in through a collapsed portion of the wall. This place hasn't changed... I say, looking at the leveled city. A small canal still ran around the former city center, but it was just as dry when I stood here eight years ago....

No kidding. There isn't even grass growing here.

I look at Ray. You've been here?

Ray pointed towards the northern section of the city, near the charred hulk of a prison. The Hunter's guild used to stand there. Almost as big as the Aiedo Marketplace, she had the best bar in all of Motavia. The Kadary guild was meant to be a temporary establishment, until this town got rebuilt. I remember, when I first walked out of the desert. I had found myself near Piata. When I had first entered the town, I happened upon a professor and several students talking by the fountain. They were holding an informal debate, over the ethical considerations behind a possible excavation in Aiedo to get an official body count. The purely objective and unemotional terms in which they spoke of the dead shocked me so much, I turned around and started walking back to the desert. A certain person happened by, and talked me into staying. I'm still unsure of whether or not that was a fortunate occurrence.

We cross a crude plank over the canal bed into the western section of the city, the residential district where I used to run amok as a child. So, what are we looking for? Ray snaps me out of my memories.

See that foundation right there? I point to the northernmost pile of rubble. I used to live there. My house was unique in that it was the oldest home still standing in the western district, built of stone blocks. All the other houses were wooden frames with stone panels, to create an airspace for insulation against the heat of the sun for less cost, and left less of a trace as a result.

How old was that house? Ray was looking at the ruins; the stone blocks had shattered from the sheer amount of heat outside the house, resulting in its destruction.

My dad said it had been in his family a thousand years.

No kidding... Could you point out why we're here? This place gives me the creeps. I don't answer. Instead, I look around. I get a strange feeling about a rock on the ground. I kneel down and pick it up. Underneath was a small swatch of fabric, likely from a rug. Under that, charred wood. I don't remember the floor being wooden... I use a claw to pry it up, and find a small cavity with a book inside.

What's this? I pick up the book. It feels very brittle, and the pages are as yellowed as the desert sand. I brush the dust away, revealing a highly stylized title. The Ashley Family

Ray takes the book and walks over to a clear patch of ground in the sunlight. The lettering is a metal inlay, real nice craftsmanship. What is this alloy, though? I've never seen that sparkle on metal before.... Ray puts down the book, and I gingerly open the cover, afraid a wrong move might turn the pages to dust.

There's a note inside.

Hey, Shorty! I heard you were getting married tomorrow, and I wanted to give you something, since I can't make the ceremony. I made this book with Kyra at the manor. You'll notice the wax seals on each page. When someone removes a seal, that page will instantly remember what the user sees when the seal leaves the paper. The pages might fade a bit with time, but the book should easily outlast your children's children.

May the Light watch over you and Rika.

-Rune

I don't understand how a page could remember what I see, so I flip to the last page. A small wax seal was still there, with a strange symbol on it. I look at Ray, and pull the seal off. I look down, and the page has a drawing of Ray, staring at me with a confused look. It seems identical to Ray, certainly more accurate than what an artisan could do. I giggle, and show it to Ray. How did you do that? I shrug, and turn back to the first page after Rune's note.

There's a drawing of a young couple. The boy couldn't be very old, probably only twenty or so. He looks a bit uncomfortable in wedding attire. The page is prettty blurred on the other side, but the girl looks beautiful in a long, flowing gown. She seems very happy. Marika, there's some writing on the bottom! I take a closer look. The ink is almost completely faded away, but I manage to read it.

The best day of our lives! -C
Without the burden of the darkness above, we can now live for love alone. -R

Sounds like true love to me. I wonder how they felt? I turn the page. A picture of C, in a reddish outfit, and holding an intricate sword. No writing. Next page. I see the girl again, in a sundress. I notice that her ears appear similar to mine, but I choose not to believe my eyes for now. She appears to be pregnant. I start to turn the page, but I catch more writing hidden in the pattern on her dress, like a small gift to the more perceptive. I think the text was added afterwards.

With our child on the way, I have chosen to hide my first claws so another may use them. Let us celebrate this miracle of life, rather than dwell on the death in the past. -R

Ray looks at the weapons on my wrists. Where did you get these, anyway?

Long story short, someone found them, gave them to someone else, and he gave them to me.

I'm more concerned with why I felt compelled to come here. There must be something important in here. I've never seen this book before, yet I felt drawn in. I start flipping pages. Mostly pictures of the boy growing older. I stop on a picture of two grave stones.

Whoa, what happened? Ray grabs my hand before I can change the page again.

It's a cloudy day, and in the distance is a lake. I realize that I saw these graves in Krup. I take a close look at the grave inscriptions... Alys Brangwin? The other one is... Chaz Ashley. I wonder if there's a connection? I notice yet more writing at the bottom.

I could feel something wrong when Chaz went on his last job. I should've stopped him, but I didn't... May he find peace alongside Alys. -R

If Chaz was a hunter.... Ray, have you ever heard of someone called Alys?

You bet! She's a legendary hunter from long ago. They called her the Eight Stroke Warrior. Supposedly, she left the guild one day on a job, and never came back. I don't know anything else. Some people say she trained a kid to be a hunter, once.

I start turning more pages, but everything else seems blank, the seals still intact. Near the end of the book, I stumble upon a page. There's no picture, and the seal is still there, but someone wrote something down. The writing looks a bit shaky, like from an arthritic professor I met once.

It's been years now, yet I keep thinking back to that day, when Chaz and I first met. Would he still be here if I never was? If I had chosen to fight alongside him instead of becoming a humble housewife? Our child is nearly grown now, more than twice as fast as a normal Parmanian, yet slower than I had. I wish I could have learned a craft so I could spend more time at home instead of picking up the sword of my fallen lover as a hunter. My father, Seed, did everything in his power to ensure I could prosper, yet I feel trapped between my past actions and my uncertain future...

I'm going to the bridge between Nalya and Zema tomorrow. I'm determined to forget everything and start over, even if it means that Elsydeon and the Silver Tusk will be forever lost in the tides of time.

I close my eyes. Is the air getting colder? No... I can almost feel the sadness coming off the page... I read the text one more time. I wonder what those things are that the writer mentioned?

I've never heard of a silver tusk, but Elsydeon... Ray whistles. Back when I was a whelp who wanted to make good as a fighter of world renown, I heard of it. I wound up doing more than my share in exchange for bullshit stories on how powerful it was. The one constant in all the stories is that at some point it showed up on Dezolis. I turn the page, and find another note.

I've returned from the bridge, but when I looked for Chaz's and my Rings of the Stars, I couldn't find them. I kept them because they were also our wedding bands, but they seem to have disappeared, case and all. There's no sign of a thief, and nothing else is missing. Perhaps I've just grown forgetful - I age much faster than a Parmanian - but for some reason, I think that Le Roof is disappointed in me.

I turn through blank pages until I return to Ray's confused face. I shake my head, and put the book in my kit bag. Ray looks at me a little sideways. So, there's a couple of fancy rings floating around somewhere, and a couple old things in the ocean. Is that book what we came for? I don't want to admit, I didn't truly know why we were here.

Another piece falls into place.

Who the- We turn around to see the same person we met at the machine place. I steel myself; I don't intend to repeat what happened last time.

He appears to be staring at the book we had found, hidden away in my gear. I wanted to see for myself evidence of the prediction.

I extend my claws. Remembering what happened to Ray's sword, I hope I don't have to use them. What are you talking about?

After the Profound Darkness was destroyed, the seal became meaningless. Just another star in the sky. However, we never considered the possibility behind conservation of energy. What is he talking about? As if he had read my thoughts, he looked at me. Energy can flow through dimensions if it is unable to change forms. Essentially, changing direction. The one limit to this is that energy can't leave a reality. You can't redefine what a direction is. The pure hatred of the Darkness was scattered when it was killed, but like a cloud of dust, it is slowly settling, drawn to the various peoples of Algo.

I don't believe you. I'm unsure of if I just spoke the truth or a lie.

That book you just read. Inside, you found the writings of Rika Ashley. Surely, you noticed her turn more solemn as her life progressed. Her descent into despair was partially due to her losses during her heavily accelerated life, amplified in the end by the early stages of dementia. However, she was also infected by the evil. She had attacked the former nurse of hatred, making her a target, and she had also demonstrated an ability to sense what was known as the 'Black Wave,' further suggesting her susceptibility.

Ray looked ready to try his luck at attacking. Somehow, despite harboring the same feeling, I felt that this man was being forthcoming with the truth. What happened to her?

She died at the age of 28. Due to how she was designed, this is approximately equivalent to a Parmanian female dying between ages 76 and 106, depending on the variables. She managed to live a full live, in spite of the circumstances.

It doesn't sink in immediately, but eventually, the thought hits me like a brick. Am I going to die young, too?

Ignoring any potential for unnatural death, which is always a possibility for people like you, it is unlikely. The coding used to facilitate rapid development was intended to be diluted over time through breeding. A thousand years should be sufficient to have purged the characteristic from your genome. It was introduced because Seed needed to minimize the amount of time necessary to complete the improvements being made on the prototype. He activated his self destruct not long after Rika turned one.

Ray looks impatient. Who is Seed?

You never met him. Your charge has. He was the controller of the Bio Plant. I realize that the man is talking about that computer Etirn had managed to start.

The man takes out a small piece of paper and gives it to me, apparently oblivious of my outstretched blades. I see that it is covered in numbers and graphs. There are more important things for you to do than look for the past right now. Dezolis will need to wait for now. You are going to go to Satellite Zelan, instead. It follows Motavia's orbit, with an offset of half a cycle. You will wake an old friend.

Who said I was going anywhere? Does this guy think I can sprout wings and flap where I need to go?

I just did. That paper contains the necessary formulae. Your egotistical friend will need it to reach Zelan. The man starts waving his finger like a metronome. He will be calling right, about.... He points just as my headset squelches to life.

Outerbeast 4, Motavia University.

Ray looks at the paper in my hand. How the fuck do you know all this? We look up to find nobody to answer his question.

Outerbeast 4, you read?

I almost drive my claw into my head as I press the button to talk back. Y-yeah?

It's Etirn. You sound nervous, are you okay?

I take a deep breath to clear my mind. I decide not to mention the encounter. Yes, I'm fine. What's happening?

I have another secret project that's almost ready for testing. If you're able to head back to Piata, I'd like to talk to you about it.

I was about to respond when someone else got on a radio. I'm sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I need to make a quick announcement. Attention all interested parties, this is Kadary Hunter's Guild. There is a death warrant currently pending for a member. Ray Calant, nickname 'Blades', is wanted for failure to pay a debt of fifty-five hundred meseta. Ray Blades is an armed and trained hunter, and should be approached with caution. This warrant becomes valid in 48 hours, and a physical description will be provided at that time, unless the warrant or loan is invalidated. That is all for now.

Ray's face blanched as the announcement was broadcast throughout Motavia. Oh, shit....

Etirn gets back on the radio. I think you're in trouble, Ray.

I'm dead... I'm fucking dead.... I don't think I've ever seen Ray that upset in the short time I've known him.

I dig through my pockets and count up what little I have left of my savings. I have a little money on me. I hit the talk button on my radio. How much money do you have, Etirn?

About a thousand meseta. The last of an old wedding fund my mom gave me, should I meet a nice lady to bring home.

That isn't enough. We need a plan, a job, something to save Ray's life....

Suddenly, the hunter gets off the ground. You guys just gave me an idea, if you really want to help. Give me that radio thing. I take off my headset and hand it over. Hunter Blades contacting Hunter's Guild.

Hunter Blades, please be advised that you are now on partial suspension due to a pending warrant.

Damn it, I know that! Do I still have the power to nominate members without the red tape?

It takes a minute for a response. Yes, I believe you can, but shouldn't you be more concerned about paying your loan?

I nominate Marika Ashley and Etirn Bay as full members of the guild, trial package. I'll admit, I didn't see that coming....

So, you are requesting Ashley, Marika, and Bay, Etirn to be issued full licenses for one year, without monthly dues or a qualification exam?

Yeah. I quite simply don't know what to say. I don't even know what to think.

Very well, I'll start the paperwork now. Please bring your nominees to the guild in Kadary to finish the forms, receive their licenses, and to request their first job.

Hold on, Guild. Could you tell me what's the highest paying job available right now?

Another pause. There is currently one job worth five thousand, that nobody seems to want. However, I will remind you, that you are suspended from duty, and even if you weren't, you simply aren't qualified for that job.

Thanks. That's all. Ray gives me back the radio.

So, in a desperate bid to save your life, I'm now a hunter?

You still need to pick up your license, but that's the gist of it.

I shake my head. The principal won't be happy if he hears about this. Well, I don't turn my back when someone needs my help. I'm game.

Etirn gets on the radio. I could use a vacation. I'll see you two in Kadary tomorrow morning. End.

I look at what's been happening recently, and I can't help but feel bemused at how I got here. Not long ago, I was a simple student, a bookworm. Now I'm traveling the world, a warrior scholar with weapons on my arms.

Ray shrugs. If you sling enough bullshit, something's gonna get covered in it.

I start laughing. You see things a little differently, huh, Ray?

How do you think I wound up broke? We could head back to Mile and wait for a sand raft, but I know there's a cave just north of here, that goes through the mountains, and opens up just north of Kadary. Ray looks at the sun, slowly sinking below the horizon. If we leave now, we could make Kadary by morning, if we don't stop anywhere.

To be honest, Etirn probably hit the nail on the head. This whole Rika thing was starting to give me stress, with all that I'm still missing from the puzzle. Ray and I find the cave to be swarming with small gel-like monsters, but we manage to make it through the caves without much more wear than bags under our eyes from walking through the night.

Next chapter

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